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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



HORSES : 

THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 

A 

MANUAL OF HORSE HYGIENE, 

INVALUABLE FOR THE 

VETERAN OR THE NOVICE; 



POINTING OUT THE TRUE SOURCE OF "MALARIA," " DISEASE WAVES," 
INFLUENZA, GLANDERS, u PINK-EYE," ETC., 



AND HOW TO PREVENT AND COUNTERACT THEM. 



BY 

C. E. PAGE, M.D., 

M 

Author of "How to Feed the Baby," u Natural Cure of Consumption," etc. 
WITH TREATISE AND NOTES ON SHOEING, 

BY 

SIR GEORGE COX AND COL. ^Jff^f^PtOH^ r^s 

OCT -.1303 i 

NEW YORK^2> ° 
FOWLER & WELLS, PUBLISHERS, 
753 Broadway. 



O r 



rp»: 



COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY 

FOWLER & WELLS. 



EDWARD O. JENKINS, 

Printer and Stereotyper^ 
20 North William Street, New York. 



TO 

THE -MERCIFUL MAN" 

WHO WOULD 

SACRIFICE EVEN HIS PREJUDICES 

FOR 

HIS HORSE'S GOOD 

AND 

HIS OWN. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



Object of the Book 5 

Request to Readers 6 

" Five-dollar Jockeys " sometimes Slandered 10 

Why Horses are not Fed on Mince-Pie and Pickles. . . . 11-12 

Foul Air and Disease in Stable and Home 12-13, 29 

Mistaken kindness to immediately Blanket a Steaming 

Horse 13-H 

Instinct vs. Reason 15 

Cruel Kindness r , 16-38-48 

How to transform a " Seedy " Horse 17-24-25 

" Condition M in Horses 18 

Why they go Lame suddenly ; Importance of Work . 19, 74, 77 

Flesh vs. Fat , . 20 

A Soft Horse — Fatty Degeneration 21-22, 61 

Hint to would-be Race-Winners. 23 

Letter to Turf, Field, and Farm 24 

Two-meal System 24-31-34-35-85-86 

Extra Feed — When Injurious 26 

Dyspepsia or Indigestion — Symptoms and Cause 28-29 

Importance of Rest before Eating, and Leisure after. . . 29 

What " Kicks " 30 

Cause and Cure of "Pulling" ; The Human "Puller.". .31-32 

Popular Prejudice against Innovations , 35 

" Colds " — What this Disorder really Is, and How 

Caused 37-38 

(3) 



4 



CONTENTS. 



Prevention of the " Distemper " — Its Cure 39-40-41 

Cold Air not necessarily Pure 42 

Hand-Rubbing vs. Drugs ... 42 

Danger of Medication 42 

Concerning the Use of the Blanket 43 

The Natural Coat the best 44~45 

Clipping — A Hint ■ 45 

Eating and Digesting — The Difference ; Kind Treatment. 46 

Over-driving — Overwork 47 

A Safe Remedy 48 

Chest Founder 48 

Chronic Disease — Cause 50 

Hints relating to Food and Drink 51 

Sore Back 54 

Scrofula 56 

Glanders , . 57 

Kidney Complaints; Relation of "Condition" to Re- 
served Force. or Staying Power. 58 

Quantity of Food 63 

One's Meat another's Poison 67 

The best Feed 70 

Corn on the Cob ; Flatulence ; Cribbing 71 

" Enough is Better than a Feast " ; The Horse-of-all- 

Work 76 

From the Dump-cart to the Track 76 

" Grassing Out " , 77 

About the Appetite 80 

Feeding of Road Horses; What a Father-in-law 

Learned 81 

How a Truckman avoided Lost Time, and Improved 

the Condition of his Horses 83 

Horse-car Love 84 

Trying to " Make a Horse Laugh I " 87 

Mr. Plant's Testimony 87 

First-class Stables ; The Eternal " Mash ! " 89 



CONTENTS. 5 

Veterinary Practice ; Founder ; " Counter-irritation " 

with a Vengeance 9 2 

Eating the Bedding ; Rules that may be Safely Tried. . 96 

Check Rein 99~ I2 5 

Blinders 100 



PART II. 

SHOEING. 

Ignorance — not Cruelty — to Blame for the Horse's 

Premature Decay 103 

Value of Horse Property 104 

Normal Age of the Horse 105 

Lord Pembroke's Opinion of Grooms 106 

Chief Source of the Horse's Suffering 107 

One Cause and Cure of Swelled Legs 107 

Unnecessary Work ; Value of Brakes 108 

A Common Fallacy 109 

Man forestalled by Nature no 

Effect of Shoe Nails in 

" Inconceivable Cruelty," as defined by Mr. Mayhew 113 

Sir George Cox's Logical Deduction 114 

Specious Arguments 1 14-1 1 5 

Not Theory, not Book, not Hobby, but Extended 

Practice 1 1 5-1 1 6 

Improvement 119 

Running Barefoot over Rocky Hills in Wales, etc 120 

Direct and Indirect Benefit of Reform ; Everybody but 
the Blacksmith Benefited ; A Count's Experience . 

1 20-1 2 1 
Is Judgment Based on Knowledge to Settle the Ques- 
tion? The Opinion of the Lancet 122-123 

Adequacy of the Natural Foot for all Demands ; Inde- 
pendence of the Unshod Horse 124 



6 CONTENTS. 

Xenophon's Experience Coincides with Lord Pem- 
broke's ; Modern Writers Shirking 125-126-127 

French and English and Mexican Army Experience. ... 128 
Humanity and Self-interest Going to Prevent Human 
Ignorance and Conceit from continuing to Mar the 

Work of God. 130 

The Tribwie and Mark Lane's Express on Other En- 
glish Experience 131 

Col. Weld's Experience 133 

The Training and Character of Horses 1 39 



PREFACE, 



THROUGH many years' acquaintance with the dis- 
orders of man and beast, I have learned the principal 
cause of abnormal conditions. To remove a cause is 
to provide the sovereign remedy. The " medicine " 
is no less worthy of confidence because costing abso- 
lutely nothing and always at hand. 

Instructions which are specially designed for the 
benefit of novices, will, of course, be recognized and, 
doubtless, approved of by the veterans who may 
chance to examine the work. Where the suggestions 
are evidently intended for the veterans themselves, 
being in direct opposition to prevailing practices, I 
trust that some will deem them at least worthy of 
consideration and trial. 

One object of this work is to recommend a re- 
formed system of feeding, calculated to conserve vital 
force at points where it is often expended in the most 
destructive manner, viz. : the digestive and excretory 
systems. If the digestive organs become diseased, 
the excretories are certain to be overtaxed, since it is 
their office to eliminate the foul products of indiges- 
tion, as well as the normal waste of the organism. 



8 PREFACE. 

Although placing special stress upon the advantage 
of modifying the prevailing diet as to the number of 
meals, the author is far from asserting that this is 
imperatively necessary, providing that the total quan- 
tity is not excessive, and the feeding is so timed (or, 
upon occasion, omitted altogether, for a meal), that 
the horse is never fed when tired, nor put to work 
soon after eating. It is manifestly true that the oft- 
ener he is fed the more difficult it is to guard against 
the above evil. Having taken pains, as the reader 
will observe further on, to put himself in communi- 
cation with a large number of horsemen, for the pur- 
pose of eliciting their views, and being desirous of 
still further acquaintance among the craft, the author 
ventures to request such readers as may feel so dis- 
posed to address him, giving — for or against — the re- 
sult of their experience after a trial of the system 
recommended. 

As stated in the opening paragraph, the chief aim in 
the author's mind is to prevent disease ; hence such 
suggestions as occur relating to curative measures, 
are merely hints en passant, no pretence being made 
of classifying " diseases" or of prescribing specifics 
for their " cure." One thing, however, is certain, viz. : 
That principle of treatment which is best calculated 
to maintain health, is also best adapted to restore it. 

Charles E. Page. 
Biddeford, Me., Aug. 15, 1883. 



HORSES: 

THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



In undertaking the congenial task of writing a 
short treatise on the horse, I have not in mind the 
consideration of all of his various ailments — the 
means, whether by dragging or what not, of " curing" 
him of his " diseases " — but rather having him, as we 
do, at the start, in health, I would endeavor to show 
how we may prevent disease. In a long experience, 
dating from early boyhood, when I thought, as most 
persons think to-day, that the principal, if not the 
only, thing is to feed high and often, I find that with 
horses as with men, more of them decline, become 
" seedy/' emaciated, and sorry sights to behold, from 
overfeeding, or, what is nearly the same thing, under- 
working, or from a combination of the two causes, 
than from any lack of food or care, as the term " care " 
is commonly interpreted. 

Most persons love a horse, and I have seldom found 
an owner who would not go hungry rather than have 
his horse go without food. He will say, " I will feed 
my horse before I will myself," and, in practice, too, 
will do it. To be sure, there is seldom any con- 



IO HORSES: 

flict between the two needs ; we are all able to eat 
too much and too often, and incline to serve our ani- 
mals in tke same manner. These things we do, what- 
ever else is sacrificed or neglected. Even " hard 
cases," men who have not the means to purchase 
a good animal — that is, a valuable one — and who 
consequently are seen driving rawny-boned, consump- 
tive creatures, and win the name of starving them — 
even these, as I have found upon diligent inquiry, 
often take scrupulous care to feed three times a day, 
and to give their poor dyspeptic horses more food 
than they can possibly digest. They do this, all the 
more because appearances are against them, and if it 
does not come to their ears, they feel sure that their 
neighbors and all who pass or meet them on the road, 
are saying something about " post-meat." 

If some gentlemen's driving-horses had more of 
this sort of diet — outdoor air and freedom from sur- 
feit — they would not so soon fall into the hands of 
" five-dollar jockeys." How often our eyes are pained 
at the sight of what was once a horse to be proud 
of, and whose owner really delighted in him, drag- 
ging himself along, and looking as if it would be a 
mercy to end his life. His old owner speaks of the 
case sorrowfully, and says, " When I owned 'Jim' 
he never looked like that ; he got all he could eat, 
and I never overworked him." He doesn't add the 
further fact that under his treatment the horse begun 
to decline, and at an age, too, when he should have 
been in his prime, and that he put him away in con 
sequence ! Although the horse has many advantages 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET n 

over his owner, so far as he has less exciting causes 
of disease — still, as we all know, his disorders are of 
about the same nature, so far as they go. He has 
fewer diseases in number and frequency than we find 
in the human family; and this comparative exemp- 
tion from disease bears a pretty close relation to the 
plainness of his diet. 

In my recent work entitled " Natural Cure of 
Consumption/' * in which I discuss the advantages 
of _ wheat meal, unbolted and unsifted, over fine 
flour or any modification of it, in the treatment 
or prevention of dyspepsia — a disorder which is 
at the root of almost all the internal diseases of 
man and beast — I make use of the following lan- 
guage : " That most noble of all animals next to 
man, — and in some aspects far superior to him, — 
the horse, in his finest and most delicate state, finds 
a perfect food in the whole grain, chewing it himself. 
I may, in the minds of some, be weakening my argu- 
ment by comparing the digestive apparatus of man 
with that of the horse, but I am desirous of impress- 
ing upon the minds of my readers the well-known but 
imperfectly considered fact, that our horse-fanciers, — 
who dote on their ten-thousand-dollar animals, and 
would feed them on the finest of flour, would place 
before them the most costly and complicated cooked 
dishes if it were desirable, or even not pernicious in a 
health point of view, — really keep their dearest pets 



* " The Natural Cure of Consumption, Dyspepsia, Bright's 
Disease, Rheumatism, etc." pp. 275, $1. New York : Fowler 
& Wells. 



12 HORSES: 

on bread and water ; and that, because of this, and 
the absence of all the hot, stimulating articles, solid 
or fluid, indulged in by their owners, their regular 
and moderate diet of uncooked food, and their superior 
hygiene in certain essential matters, our horses are 
saved, in great measure, from becoming fat, sick, 
mean, wheezy, or dyspeptic, like their masters and 
mistresses — men, women, and children." 

And yet horses do, after all, fell prey to all these 
degraded conditions. In spite of the naturalness and 
wholesomeness of their diet, as to variety.and quality, 
and in face of the most solicitous and painstaking 
care, we too often see them the subject of tedious 
and painful disorders, and of course there is a reason 
for it. 

NON-VENTILATION. 

One of the principal causes of disease among horses 
as among human beings is foul air. In large stables 
this cause operates effectually, for seldom is there 
any good arrangement for ventilating, least of all, 
any efficient means for maintaining even an approx- 
imately pure atmosphere. On the contrary, every 
precaution is taken, in most stables, to prevent the 
entrance of fresh air, without which the vitiated air 
must remain unchanged, loaded, as it is, with the 
foul emanations from the urine-soaked floors and 
from the lungs and bodies of the animals imprisoned 
therein. Here, as nowhere else, is illustrated that 
most stupid of all economies, viz. : the " saving of 
foul air for the sake of its warmth." This is largely 
due to the overestimate of the necessity of keeping 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



13 



the temperature of the stable at a high point. Un- 
questionably horses would eat more, would need more 
food, if the stable were kept supplied with fresh 
air, if, in consequence, the temperature should aver- 
age several degrees colder ; but he is a mean man 
who would cheat his horses out of the " breath of 
life " for the sake of a little saving in hay and grain. 
Living themselves in air-tight apartments, and, often 
enough, innocent .of all knowledge of the necessity 
for a constant changing of the air in their own homes, 
stable-keepers are, of course, guiltless of all blame in 
the matter referred to. They know that the warmer 
the animals are kept, by means of close stables and 
blankets, the less food they require, and, unaware of 
the pernicious influence exerted upon the general 
health of the animals, this settles the question. With 
good ventilation, however much the temperature of 
the air might be lowered, the horses would more than 
compensate for the extra feed, in improved digestion, 
vigor, and general health. 

MISTAKEN KINDNESS. 

I find that a great deal of the care exercised in the 
regimen of horses by all classes of people is — like the 
unwise petting and coddling of children — a source of 
mischief, and often constitutes positive cruelty. 

Some of the kindest and most tender-hearted per- 
sons in the world spend time and money, and exercise 
their minds, in various ways, with the intention of 
doing for their horses the best that can be done ; yet, 
in their misconceived efforts, doing, in some particu- 



H 



HORSES . 



lars, the worst things possible. That is to say, of two 
evils which may present themselves they choose the 
greatest, or as between a good and an evil they choose 
the evil, by following blindly the prevalent " customs 
of the country " — doing all this year just as they did 
last, combating and even resenting the suggestions of 
those who essay to introduce innovations. A single 
illustration will serve to show my meaning and possi- 
bly add to the comfort of some of my equine friends : 
A horse comes to stable from a sharp drive, perspiring 
freely, the steam rising like a heavy mist about him, 
and the " go-by-rule " hostler, in the kindness of his 
heart, as soon as the harness is removed (a rubbing 
down being just then impossible, perhaps), throws 
the woolen blanket, perhaps two of them, if in severe 
cold weather, over the steaming animal, and leads 
him to the stall ; and he will do this — even his em- 
ployer would direct it — in the very face of the sug- 
gestion from a bystander that the effect is to saturate 
the blanket almost as though dipped in water, so that 
within half an hour the condition is precisely as 
though the boy had thrown a wet blanket over him 
at the start. A few minutes on the stable floor, or in 
his stall, unblanketed, would change the whole phase 
of the subject, and then the dry, warm blanket 
would remain dry. Of course the question remains 
open as to the desirability of blanketing horses at all ; 
there is much to be said on the side of leaving him 
in his natural coat, much depending, however, upon 
other considerations affecting the question. Again, 
a horse is observed to have lost his appetite, his hay 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 15 

and grain remaining untouched or partly eaten. The 
kind-hearted owner leaves the food in the manger, for 
his horse to eat when he wants it, and explains to 
the " women folks" that u Tom" is " off his feed," 
and they must use " Billy," or forego their drive — a 
little jaunt about town, perhaps, and just what over- 
fed and underworked Tom needed, while Billy was 
well enough to stay indoors, if necessary! But of 
this more will be said further on. 

INSTINCT VS. REASON. 

The intelligence of men, so often and in so many 
particulars, resembles the instinct of dumb animals, 
that I find therein an unanswerable argument in favor 
of the view that the difference between our reason 
and theirs is one of degree only. In point of fact, 
we find instances wherein exceptionally intelligent 
animals are positively the superiors, in all that gives 
evidence of logical thinking, of exceptionally unintel- 
ligent men. It is instinct only (if we are to distin- 
guish between instinct and reason) which prompts a 
man to speedily blanket a heated and steaming horse ; 
it is reason which impels another to refrain from the 
act. It is instinct which prompts most men to feed 
their horses just so often and at just suck times, 
irrespective of their work or their physical condition ; 
it is reason which impels one to withhold a feed, 
or to give his horse a fast-day, or to reduce the 
number of his meals, if it should be found from the 
experience of others that less are better. There are 
times when the regular " feed," however hungry the 



1 6 HORSES: 

horse may be, is extremely cruel, — times, indeed, when 
it means a painful death. Horses do not die from 
overdriving alone ; at least, not often. I am inclined 
to think that in 99 cases in the 100, when this is the 
supposed cause of death, and when without such over- 
exertion the horse might have continued to live, except 
for some wrong condition connected with his diet, he 
would still not only have lived, but would have with- 
stood the great strain without harm ; in other words, 
what proved too great a strain for him, fed as he 
was, would not have been excessive, or, at least, not 
fatal, had he been fitted for it by judicious treat- 
ment, and had the strain been succeeded by reasona- 
ble, or reasonifig, care, instead of routine care, which 
I place under the head of instinctive. Often enough, 
it is the care and treatment which are most kindly 
intended that kill or break down animals prematurely, 
and put them, as before remarked, into the keeping 
of those who can only obtain the ownership of cheap 
horses ; and such persons, by continuing the very 
means which have made their horses dyspeptic and 
emaciated, keep them so and prevent the recovery 
which might often be assured by a strictly hygienic 
and curative regimen. 

HOW TO MANAGE. 

We occasionally observe an instance wherein an 
especially intelligent stable-keeper buys a seedy, pot- 
bellied horse, perhaps, of a farmer, who has been in 
the habit of keeping hay in the creature's crib all the 
time, the horse munching away, eating or nibbling 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET \j 

constantly whenever he can work up an appetite, or, 
as in some cases, gormandizing as if he was an ani- 
mated hay-cutter and nothing else. The man puts 
him into his stable, feeds him little and regularly — 
hay morning and night, and in amount only what he 
will eat up clean with a sharp appetite ; or, if of the 
insatiable-appetite type, limiting him to a rational 
quantity, giving him light feed three times a day 
(grain only at noon), but giving him regular exercise 
or work every day. The result of this treatment is a 
complete transformation, which I need not describe 
in detail ; but, from a hide-bound, lazy, and almost 
useless piece of horse-flesh, he produces a tough, hard, 
clean roadster of great value. 

Sometimes this same transformation is secured with- 
out any great degree of intelligence on the part of the 
owner, but is rather a streak of good luck. Buying 
an overfed and underworked dyspeptic horse, because 
he is " cheap," feeding him well, but giving him an 
abundance of work, because he has the work for him 
to do, the necessary conditions are established, and 
the horse begins to thrive and acquire condition, to 
the entire surprise of his owner perhaps. 

This could never have been accomplished upon any 
system of feeding alone ; muscles do not grow except 
as they are used ; nor is it possible to fatten some 
horses so as to give them even the semblance of condi- 
tion, which so often deceives the novice, who, buying 
a sleek, handsome horse, finds, upon putting him to 
use, that his fat melts off and out of the degenerated 
carcass ; and he, not knowing the cause, does not 



1 8 HORSES: 

know how to prevent the decline, or to build the 
creature up anew. 

CONDITION IN HORSES. 

" Condition has much to do with the question of abil- 
ity to undergo severe labor in inclement weather with- 
out undue hazard," says a writer in the National Live 
Stock Journal. " Condition is a state of the body not 
acquired in a day, as all experienced horsemen know. 
Without this, the trotting or the running horse is 
well understood to possess no hardiness; in other 
words, no power of endurance under hard pushing, 
and at the same time a vital stamina that will enable 
the possessor to ward off disease, though hard pressed 
and overheated. An attempt often made by the 
novice to put a horse in condition for hard labor by 
suddenly increasing his feed, is inevitably followed 
by failure. Only a system of prudent, steady feed- 
ing, daily, vigorous exercise of the muscles being 
practiced at the same time, will insure success. If 
this be omitted, the animal will perspire freely, with 
even moderate exertion. His heart will be found 
to increase the frequency of its motions, thumping 
against the ribs more or less violently. This can 
easily be detected by placing the ear over the region 
of the heart, or, in fact, over any part of the chest in 
proximity to the heart. Suddenly feeding the horse 
to put him in flesh flaxes a tendency to this. Steady 
muscular exertion builds against this tendency, and 
effectually removes it, if the practice be thoroughly 
carried out. Do not mistake by supposing that these 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 19 

evil results of quick fattening, called " softness/' will 
only follow fast work. A severe pull — even a single 
effort, if severe — will cause as vigorous spasmodic 
efforts of the heart as though the animal had been 
hard driven under the lash." 

This palpitation and sweating, easily and quickly, 
are indications of weakness, though the horse may be 
a very spirited and " strong-going " one. This is espe- 
cially true of a class of horses termed " pullers " when 
they are not given much work, as in the case cited 
further on. There are few trotting horses but suffer 
more or less during portions of the year from this 
disease, viz. : degeneration of the muscular system — 
of the entire organism, in fact. This fully accounts 
for so many fine horses " going lame " suddenly. The 
cause may be truly enough said to be a sprain ; but 
why the sprain? Simply because the muscles and 
tendons, instead of being tough, clean,and sound, are 
degenerated from lack of sufficient use. Instead of 
keeping his muscular system firm and sound, his ap- 
pearance of condition is maintained by feed alone ; 
and when taken out for a little speeding, he strains 
himself a little, snap go a few strands of a muscle, 
and he has to be hauled off and " doctored" at a 
great loss to his owner. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK 

in putting a horse in condition is not fully appreci- 
ated ; but it can never be done, never has been done, 
without. Many a valuable animal maintains a fine 



20 HORSES: 

appearance with little daily exercise ; but put such a 
horse suddenly on to severe work and his lack of 
muscle soon becomes apparent. He has no staying 
power ; his fat melts away and shows him for what 
he was all the time — thin in flesh. Mr. P., a young 
man in my own town, went into the grocery business. 
He owned a poor little horse, and having no surplus 
capital, he thought he would u get along" with this 
one at first until trade should increase to the point of 
compelling him to make a change. He had been vainly 
trying to " fat him up " with food alone, with the in- 
tent of selling him, as he had nothing for him to do ; 
but he now began to " pick up," and finally, flying 
about town from 6 A.M., to n, and sometimes later, 
pulling a pretty heavy wagon all the time, and, upon 
occasion, taking the family out for a ride in the after- 
noon and evening, he became plump and handsome 
and virtually proof against work and weather. He 
looked fat, but, speaking roundly, there " wasn't a 
spoonful of fat about him "; he used his muscles and 
so they grew, and being sufficiently fed, his food was 
all digested and assimilated, and went to nourish the 
muscular system so that it could grow. Not work 
alone, nor food alone ; but both together, in generous 
measure — work, rest, and food — enough of each, and 
pure air twenty-four hours in the day — this is the law 
and gospel of horse hygiene. In fact, the same prin- 
ciple holds with regard to human beings. " Work 
don't kill," says Burdette ; " it is too much recrea- 
tion, my boy, that does the business for the most of 
them." Overwork is injurious, and may be fatal ; but 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 21 

the chief danger from hard work comes from its being 
suddenly applied to horse, man, woman, or child, in 
the absence of condition. The only offset to absti- 
nence from exercise is restriction in diet ; but vigor- 
ous health can only come from enough of both. 



A SOFT HORSE. 

Just so far as fullness of body is maintained by 
liberal feed, in default of equally liberal work, just so 
far do the size and quality of the muscles deteriorate. 
Muscle (flesh) is one thing ; fat, another. The latter 
is disease, pure and simple. Although this principle 
is recognized very generally in practice — for nobody 
"backs" a fat horse— it is fully comprehended by 
very few. Indeed, I am amazed to find how few 
know the real difference between two animals, one 
in " condition/' that is, muscular, plump, and round 
because of the muscles having been built up by 
use, and one that is simply fat. The fact is, the 
fat horse (or the fat man, or any other fat creature) 
has not a sound tissue or organ in his body; what 
muscle he has is excessively mixed with fatty 
matters ; that is, the muscular tissue itself has 
shrunken and given place to globules of fat, or in 
other words, the creature may be said to be suf- 
fering from fatty degeneration. It is not necessary 
for the individual, whether man or beast, to be gross 
in form before he can be said to suffer from this dis- 
ease. The very day upon which the balance is de- 
stroyed between diet and exercise (the former exceed- 



22 HORSES: 

ing the latter) degeneration begins ; the muscles begin 
to diminish in size and to grow "soft." If any one 
wishes to comprehend this point, let him examine 
carefully and compare a slice of sirloin from a fat, 
stall-fed ox, and one from the loin of a working ox, 
slaughtered before fattening. Every farmer knows 
that in life the latter can " pull " the stall-fed ox and 
his load. Mark the clean, red appearance of the mus- 
cle in the one case, with no perceptible covering or 
admixture of fat, and mark the size of the muscle itself, 
as compared with that of the creature that is not sup- 
posed to be fit to eat until he has been made unfit 
for work ! The very terms used to describe a de- 
licious steak or roast tell the story — "tender and 
well mixed." It is not a tender and well-mixed 
muscle that makes a record of 2. n, or draws a heavy 
load with ease, but just the reverse — tough and un- 
mixed with fat. 

It is quite customary to keep up the feed of 
trotting horses, between seasons, permitting them to 
become somewhat fat, and then when they are to be 
fitted for sharp work, this fat is worked off and out, 
while muscle is being worked on, and improved 
in quality, by getting rid of the fat, which has 
been taking the place of the muscular fibre. In 
other words, the horse is forced to take on disease, 
by feeding him in excess of his work, and then is 
cured by restoring the just balance between work 
and feed. This is, in my judgment, very bad policy — 
proving in the end exhaustive of vital force — ruins a 
great many valuable horses, and injures all that are 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 23 

thus treated." Ample rest is no doubt beneficial to 
horses who are at times put to great strain ; but the 
aim should be to maintain the balance. They should 
be fed physiologically. " Little work, little feed," 
should be the rule ; unless, indeed, the horse-owner 
feels the necessity — since he is dependent, usually 
(if a dealer), upon the fat, sleek appearance of his 
horses — of keeping up the appearance of his animals, 
whether they get much exercise or not. But this 
does not demand three meals, by any means, since 
the horse will eat at two more than he can digest and 
assimilate, and may be kept fat on this system, and 
with less danger of an outbreak of disease, than if he 
were more frequently fed. But this question — the 
number of meals — is fully discussed, and examples 
cited, further on. 

The following contribution to Turf, Field, and 
Farm, concerning the number of meals best for all 
classes of horses, has brought me several letters cor- 
roborating the position therein taken, and also others 
asking specific advice as to the best regimen under 
special conditions of work, etc., as in case of stage 



* I long ago predicted that the time would come when the 
winning horse, or man, would be he who trained on flesh, instead 
of off\ that is, who had no fat to get rid of, but would gain in 
weight from the start, during every day's work, until the max- 
imum of muscle and muscular power was reached. This year I 
am pleased to see this prediction verified by the account that 
comes across the water, viz. : that in the last three races of cer- 
tain English boat clubs, the winning crew has been the one that 
gained in weight during training ! 



24 HORSES: 

teams, where the work is performed out of season or 
at unusual hours : 

THE TWO-MEAL SYSTEM FOR HORSES. 

" Biddeford, Me., Dec. 9, 1882. 

"Editors of Turf, Field, and Farm : — A writer in 
the Mirror and Farmer speaks of having fed his cattle 
on the two-meal system for the past seven years, and 
finds no occasion for feeding oftener ; in fact, he says 
they thrive better than on the ' cramming system/ or 
more frequent feeding. 

" Although I have never doubted that this system 
would work as favorable with horned cattle, my own 
experience has been confined mostly to human beings 
and horses. According to my judgment, if applied 
to work or road horses it will increase their work- 
ing capacity very largely. That is, a given horse 
will do more work, day after day, either in the cart, 
before the plow, or on the road, and keep in prime 
condition ; besides it would surely, because of his im- 
proved health, tend to prolong his life, and extend his 
years of usefulness. But aside from mere theorizing 
or dogmatically asserting my opinion, which, however, 
I find is corroborated by every one who has given 
this system a f fair trial, I will give here an illustra- 
tion as to its operation on road horses. I bought a 
little, ' chunky' mare, six years old, fat and lazy, fit 
for nothing but a timid woman's use — just right, one 
would say, for the women and children to jog round 
town with. She would travel about four and a half 
to five miles an hour with considerable urging, and if 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 2 $ 

pressed beyond that would sweat profusely. Hav- 
ing been recently imported from Canada, it was pre- 
dicted by all the horsemen about that she would have 
'the distemper' as a matter of course. In order to 
more effectually guard against this, I fed her but 
once a day for a couple of weeks, giving her from ten 
to twenty miles' jogging every day, Sundays included, 
thus reducing the fat, and increasing the flesh ! Her 
one meal consisted of a very generous feed of hay, 
and four quarts of oats at night, after being thor- 
oughly rested from work. After this, and with a 
considerable increase of work (averaging, all told, 150 
miles per week), I gave her a light feed of hay and 
two quarts of oats in the morning. In the course of 
six months her weight, which had at first fallen off 
quite rapidly, was but slightly less than when I took 
her ; but it was made up of a different substance al- 
together. I had exchanged 100 pounds of fat for 75 
pounds of flesh ; or, in other words, I had relieved 
her of that much disease (effectually preventing the 
predicted outbreak), and had built up in its place a 
large amount of muscle, at the same time improving 
the quality of her entire muscular system. 

" Speaking in a general way, a horse is an engine 
made up of muscles which increase in size and qual- 
ity by increased use (always supposing a sufficient 
diet), and diminish in size, as well as in power, if the 
work is less or lighter. Consequently, if the horse 
is fed for health (i. e., in proportion to his labor), 
his weight will diminish with lessened, and increase 
with added, work. In feeding in the morning I 



26 HORSES: 

aimed to allow some two hours or more — the more 
the better — for that digestion which takes place in 
the stomach, before she was harnessed, and the 
evening meal was never given until long enough 
after she came to the stable to insure her being well 
rested from her labor, and this though her dinner 
was postponed till a late hour at night. Whenever 
I had occasion, and I sometimes took occasion, to 
give her some early work, her breakfast would be 
postponed until long after the drive was finished, or 
to a convenient hour when rested and not obliged 
to resume work soon thereafter. Within four months 
this little fat, soft, ' logy ' mare was transformed into 
a clean-bodied, tough, hard little roadster that would 
take two in a buggy eight miles an hour for three or 
four hours, and after an hour's rest take them back 
again in the same time, and do it, too, without whip- 
ping or showing any symptom of lagging. When I 
sold her I told the buyer how I fed her. Did he 
learn anything ? No, indeed. ' Well/ said he, ' I 
shall give her all she wants three times a day, as long 
as / own her.' I see her now every day ; she is just 
about where she was when I took her — fat and soft, 
and will sweat profusely if driven fifteen miles in 
three hours." 

EXTRA RATIONS. 

Occasionally horses are, through cruelty, and some- 
times unwittingly on the part of their drivers, driven 
to exhaustion ; and it frequently happens that a 
horse gives out without having been pushed hard, 
and to the complete surprise of his owner, who can 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 



27 



not account for it. " I knew he had a hard jaunt 
before him," says the owner, " and I gave him a 
couple of quarts extra at breakfast, but he gave out 
before he got half-way ; in fact, he wasn't himself 
from the start." The old saying that " a good pay- 
master pays after the work is done," applies here : a 
good horseman feeds to-day in proportion to the work 
his horse did yesterday. He pays him well, and every 
day, but never in advance. The fact is this : The 
digestive fluids are formed in the blood and remain 
subject to order, in proportion to the needs of the 
organism for food, and not in proportion to the 
amount of food swallowed, — the " needs " having ref- 
erence to work already performed, cold endured, etc. 
Other things being equal, the horse that is hard pushed 
on an empty stomach, will bear more before breaking 
down, and, if driven to exhaustion, has a far better 
chance to recover well, than the one driven in like 
manner, but fed immediately before starting, and 
halted just long enough to swallow his dinner en 
route. The rest, without the meal, would have been 
far better. 

I am aware that in making this statement I am 
running counter to the opinions of most men, based, 
as they are, largely upon their own sensations when 
deprived of their regular meals. " Needn't tell me," 
says the owner ; " I won't work without my regular 
food, nor let my horse "; which sentiment is every 
way praiseworthy, and does honor to the man's heart. 
Nevertheless, I can not withdraw the statement, for 
my opinion is based upon absolute knowledge from 



28 HORSES: 

trial, both in the case of the horse and myself. When 
I ate three meals a day, I was, as nearly all men tell 
me is the case with them, " hungry " at, often indeed 
before, every regular meal. If the meal was not 
forthcoming from any cause, I felt faint and my 
stomach would "gnaw." I learned, after a time, that 
under such circumstances a meal iost was a better 
one gained ; that, in short, this was a disease and not 
a natural condition at all, albeit it is the common ex- 
perience of most persons. No person feels faint upon 
passing a meal, or has a gnawing stomach, except it 
be occasioned by an irritated or unduly congested 
state of that organ. It is a sure proof of dyspepsia 
(using this term in its popular sense, as implying the 
condition of the organ). Strictly speaking, the term 
is a synonym of indigestion. 

DYSPEPSIA OR INDIGESTION 

results from giving the digestive organs more than 
they can do. There are times when they can do 
nothing, or next to nothing ; and when to give them 
nothing to do is curative, viz.: in fever, when we 
observe the effort of the organism to eliminate the 
impurities which constitute the real disease. The dis- 
charge from the nasal mucous membrane, for example, 
in epizootic influenza, frees the system of poisonous 
elements, sometimes amounting to several pounds a 
day. In this view we recognize the running at the 
nose as the cure, and not the disease. A cribbing 
horse, or one that will eat everything before him, no 
less than the one with a precarious appetite, is a dys- 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



2 9 



peptic ; all such are suffering from disease of the 
digestive organs. Since horses do not eat fish, flesh, 
and fowl, and the pernicious condiments associated 
with these stimulating articles of diet, and are free 
from all nuisances in the form of pastry, puddings, 
spices, and bon-bons, they have only two sources for 
digestive disorder, viz. : (1) Excess in diet, and (2) 
wrong condition at the time of eating. 

It is true — most emphatically true — that unless 
the stable is well ventilated, the horse must suffer for 
want of pure air. Poor food and pure air make bet- 
ter blood than the best of food and foul air ; and if 
there is abuse in this regard, the animal may fatten — 
in fact, this tends to insure fattening, since, for want 
of pure air in the lungs, the excretories (the lungs 
themselves, the liver, kidneys, skin, and bowels) can 
not perform their functions in eliminating the foul 
products of the natural waste of the system, and of in- 
digestion, in case of excess in diet. Hence the animal 
becomes diseased, and along with constitutional dis- 
order, the digestive organs themselves become im- 
paired ; and thus fattening may be called a third source 
of digestive disorder. I repeat that no creature, man 
or beast, should eat when tired, or directly before 
commencing hard work. 

REST AFTER EATING. 

The experiment of Jules Virez settled the question 
as to the non-digestion of food in default of rest. 
He selected two curs of the same size, age, and 
general physique, made them fast a day, and treated 



30 



HORSES: 



them the next morning to a square meal of potato- 
chips and cubes of fat mutton ; but as soon as one of 
them had eaten his fill, he made the other stop, too. 
Making sure that they had both consumed the same 
quantity, Dog No. I was confined in a comfortable 
kennel, while No. 2 had to run after the doctor's 
coach, not at a breathless rate of speed, but at a fair, 
brisk trot, for two hours and a half. As soon as they 
got home the coach-dog and his comrade were slain 
and dissected ; the kennel-dog had completely di- 
gested his meal, while the chips and cubes in the 
coach-dog's stomach had not changed their form at 
all; the process of digestion had not even begun! 
"And," continues Dr. Oswald, from whose " Physical 
Education" this incident is taken, " railroad laborers, 
who bolt their dinner during a short interval of hard 
work, had better pass their recess in a hammock. 
Instead of strengthening them, their dinner will only 
oppress them, till it is digested, together with their 
supper, in the cool of the evening," or at night when 
they are in bed, — the digestion being poorly done 
'midst distressing and exhausting dreams. It is not 
the evening meal which disturbs the troubled sleeper ; 
it is rather the three loads in the same barrel that 
"kick." 

It does not follow from this that a horse may not 
be harnessed soon, or immediately after eating, when 
occasion calls, with the probability that no harm will 
result, provided the pace be moderate, and due care 
be taken not to overdrive. The digestion of a meal 
may often be delayed, however undesirable as a rule, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET, 



3* 



without causing serious disturbance, — the stomach 
resuming its work at the first period of leisure, or as 
soon as the voluntary muscular system has been rested 
sufficiently to permit the blood to flow freely through 
the mucous membrane of the stomach. No doubt 
Dr. Virez's coach-dog would have digested his break- 
fast had he lived a few hours longer. But while the 
aim should be to regard the principle here laid down, 
as closely as practicable, it is evident that, if no atten- 
tion whatever be paid to it, the danger is lessened 
one-third by dispensing with the midday ^ meal. 

Providing always the horse be liberally, that is suf- 
ficiently fed, the time of feeding is of small account 
compared with the vital necessity of obeying this 
natural law in order to prevent indigestion. With a 
strict observance of this law — and the two-meal sys- 
tem renders this an easy matter — if the horse is 
never over-fed nor kept in a stived-up stable, he will 
not get foundered, have "pink-eye" (pneumonia), 
nor u catch cold," though every stable in town may 
be decimated with an "epidemic." The same horse 
will do more work, stand more exposure, and keep 
in prime working order, fed upon this principle, than 
under the ordinary method, which is that he must 
have his feed at or near the regular hour, with three 
meals every day. 

I once took a "pulling" mare, just up from past- 
ure, where she had been all summer. She was, of 
course, very round — filled out full with fat and wa- 
ter. I obtained possession of this mare expressly to 
test the effect of the "rational system" on a 
"puller" — a horse of whom it was said, "She hasn't 



32 HORSES: 

any judgment/' " She wants to get there too soon," 
etc. She was no comfort to anybody, no woman 
could drive her, and few men cared to ride after her. I 
put her at once on the two-meal plan, and gave her 
ten to twenty miles' sharp drive daily. In a week 
my wife, who is by no means anything of a horse- 
woman, was driving Mollie everywhere in perfect 
safety. In a few months this mare, like her prede- 
cessor, was transformed completely from a fat to a 
muscular animal. In her case the indigestion, caused 
by over-frequent feeding, which made the other — and 
which makes so m^ny others, indeed — "lazy," had 
the effect to keep her so irritated and nervous that 
she was headstrong and not readily manageable. 
We see these 

TWO PHASES OF DISEASE 

all about us in the case of human animals. A lazy man 
is a sick man ; at least, his lack of energy is due to pos- 
itive disorder. Whether he be fat, lean, or medium ; 
a gourmand or a " poor feeder," his physical condition 
is abnormal. If an obese gourmand, his whole vital 
force may be necessary to digest his food and expel 
the excess beyond what the cellular tissue can store 
up in the form of fat. The lean glutton's organism 
is taxed in like manner; while the poor tired dys- 
peptic — who eats but little, and that without satis- 
faction — suffers from faulty nutrition, because none 
of his food is well digested. The thin, wiry, " nerv- 
ous" man or woman, who never can bear to rest — 
the human "puller" — suffers from a complication of 
disorders, resulting from a body and brain poisoned 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 33 

by the products of indigestion — poisoned as truly as 
though a drug were being administered three times a 
day. 

When I sold the. '/reclaimed lunatic" MolHe, she 
was, in spite of my urgent advice, returned to her 
old way of feeding. The first month, on three 
meals, she lost thirty pounds ; although, or rather 
because she had less than half the work she had been 
doing. After this she began to increase in weight 
until her original weight was reached. But she had 
exchanged muscle for fat ; and, although she did not 
afterward " pull, " she never has since, nor had she 
ever before, the condition — the muscular power, the 
ability to do a long hard day's work with little ef- 
fort — as during the year I owned her. 

[Since the above was written, the mare, from full 
feeding and light work, began to show unmistakable 
symptoms of chest-founder, and, upon my renewing 
the suggestion, her owner decided to leave out the 
noon feed — reducing her diet from nine quarts of corn 
and oats to four of oats; feeding only twice, morning 
and night. Two months of this regimen, combined 
with an increase of her daily exercise, is fast banish- 
ing all signs of lameness]. 

In one other instance, a transient season of this 
plan — a few weeks only under my administration — be- 
gun a favorable change in an old and valuable horse 
that was looking a little " seedy." In this case, sim- 
ply leaving out the noon feed, giving the regular 
breakfast and supper (of the same amount each as 
had been given all along), set the horse to gaining in 
2* 



34 



HORSES; 



weight and appearance. She had become dyspeptic 
from overfeeding. I have never known an instance 
where the system, pursued year after year, resulted 
in failure. I could name a score or more cases as 
marked as those here given ; while, in many more, 
the only apparent effect upon good horses, that were 
already in good health and condition, has been to 
keep them thus with something less of feed. But 
the gain in feed and saving of time is trifling com- 
pared with the saving of horseflesh ; for animals that 
are habitually fed at noon (even if the "two meals" 
are divided into three), will sooner or later get se- 
verely hurt, by reason of the heat and fatigue of the 
forenoon and the resumption of work again in the 
afternoon, since this prevents the digestion of the 
mid-day meal. 

C. H., of Brunswick, Me., " in the grave-stone busi- 
ness," which he represented as being very hard on 
horses, " used up," as he expresses it, several horses 
while feeding them generously three times a day. 
The last one he owned showed signs of being " over- 
worked," until after he adopted the two-meal plan. 
He says he " blundered into the practice " from hav- 
ing to take the noon meal at irregular hours. It was 
sometimes early, sometimes very late, when he and 
his horse dined ; and finally he got into the way of 
eating only night and morning himself. Finding his 
own condition improved, he thought he would try 
the experiment with his horse. After a few weeks 
the animal began to improve and " gained right up, 
so that," said he, "a friend remarked one day, 'Well, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 35 

you've got a horse now, H., that can stand your 
work/" "Yes," said I, " but he couldn't until I 
changed his feed." "How is that?" "Well, he 
was running down on three meals, and has l run up ' 
on two, that is all." 

H. B. W., of Lowell, Mass., states that he drove 
an advertising and delivery team for a patent med- 
icine concern for five years, using the same pair 
of horses constantly. The first year he fed on the 
prevailing system, but soon after, acting upon the 
suggestion of some one who declared it would benefit 
his horses, he fed only morning and night. He said 
that for four years he had a team that attracted at- 
tention wherever he went — " a team to be proud of," 
he said. For the last three years he followed the 
" example " of his horses and ate but twice himself, 
and " by keeping clear of the fancy stuff that hotel 
tables are generally covered with, and eating the 
plainest food I could find," said he, " I cured myself 
of dyspepsia, and without any help from the d — d 
stuff I was carting about the country! " He further 
remarked that his horses always "drove freer" in the 
afternoon than in the forenoon. 

PREJUDICE. 

To show the prejudice of old horsemen against in- 
novations of this sort, I will relate an instance of a 
gentleman who was impressed with the idea and 
wished to try the two-meal plan on his horse. He 
ordered the stable-keeper to leave out the mare's 
noon meal, and feed night and morning only, hay and 



36 HORSES: 

four quarts of oats at a feed. For a time there was 
no change in her appearance ; but he accidentally 
ascertained that she was having her grain at noon 
the same as before. Somewhat angry at the decep- 
tion practiced by the man who " wouldn't have a horse 
starved" in his stabl'e, he changed her boarding place, 
ordering her feed as before. Some discussion ensued 
between him and the stable-keeper about the advan- 
tages of two over three meals, in which the latter 
predicted that he would find that it " wouldn't work 
with some ' hosses.' " Sure enough, it became evi- 
dent in a few weeks that his horse was declining. 
He ordered an increase of grain at the two feeds ; 
still she grew poor. Another increase was ordered, 
but she kept going down hill. Not suspecting any 
cheat, her owner put her away for another horse, 
directing this one to be fed in like manner. She, too, 
begun to decline, and in spite of twelve quarts of 
grain daily {ordered) and " all the hay she would eat 
up clean at each meal/' she grew more and more 
seedy, until, at last suspecting that something was 
the trouble he hired a stable, and, himself, attended 
to the feeding. He found that the amount of grain 
she had been having (!) purged her, in the new stable, 
and he lessened the ration, more and more, until 
finally she began to improve on what might be called 
a meal and a half, viz. : a very light feed of hay and 
two quarts of oats in the morning, and a full feed of 
hay with four quarts of whole corn and oats at night. 
On this feed, with liberal exercise, she acquired a 
splendid condition in a few months. The first mare, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 



37 



a little later, came into the hands of one who in his 
own stable tried the two-meal system ; and she, too, 
became plump and round on less feed than she was 
supposed to have at the boarding stable. It was not 
that this man was a natural born oat-stealer, but it is 
to be presumed that, being lectured on feeding, by 
an amateur horseman, he thought, " All right ; if he 
wants to pay me for starving his hosses I'll give him 
his money's worth ! " 

" COLDS " FROM INDIGESTION. 

Without doubt most hard-working animals digest 
a considerable proportion of all three of their meals 
at night after getting thoroughly rested from the 
day's work ; the balance (quite a percentage, too, 
with highly-fed animals) does not simply pass along 
and out as an undigested residue always, but fer- 
ments (as indicated often by flatulency or some de- 
gree of purging, etc. ; or, again, constipation may be 
produced), poisons the blood, overtaxes the kidneys 
and the lungs, until finally — whatever the weather, 
and with or without unusual exposure — the disease 
breaks out in what is popularly, but mistakenly, 
called " a cold " (slight influenza) ; and, if the condi- 
tions have been especially aggravated — as, for exam- 
ple, if the stomach has been very much overloaded 
frequently, or if during a period of reasonably warm 
weather there has been no diminution of feed, and 
if feeding is kept up in spite of the " attack " — the 
result may be a full-fledged influenza or the dreaded 
pneumonia. 



38 HORSES: 

In fact, the various phases of this disorder — I may 
say, indeed, a very large range of " diseases " — are 
the product of (i) errors in diet as to {a) time, (6>) fre- 
quency, (c) and amount — causing indigestion, and, 
consequently and unavoidably, a greater or less de- 
gree of actual blood-poisoning. (2) Lack of fresh air 
and light in the stable. These errors corrected, ab- 
solutely, and in a thousand cases there will be no 
"colds" or other internal disorders year in and year 
out. 

It would naturally follow that thorough ventilation 
(guarding against direct draughts), a temporary and 
absolute fast until convalescence is thoroughly estab- 
lished, followed by an abstemious diet, would be the 
natural cure for influenza; and so in practice I have 
found it in every instance in the case of animals of 
whatever kind, including man. This treatment is 
successful where all others are unsatisfactory and 
often fatal, and in every instance will afford an im- 
mense saving in time and vitality; saving life where 
cure is possible. 

The facts prove that influenza or any form of so- 
called " cold " is a. fever, pure and simple. However 
chilly the patient may feel, the thermometer placed 
under the tongue or in the rectum shows at once 
that the temperature is above the normal point ; 
and in all cases of feverishness there is disturbance 
of the alimentary organs — whether evident or not to 
the casual observer, and rest from all digestive labor 
is the proper " tonic." It is a great piece of folly to 
encourage eating in the absence of appetite ; it is 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



39 



only less foolish to eat even with an appetite when 
evidences of this disorder have appeared. Taken at 
the outset, a single day of fasting, with regular work 
or exercise, will usually nip the disease in the bud ; 
though sometimes, and whenever there has been a 
delay in treatment, a somewhat larger " dose " of 
this remedy will be required. When the disease has 
been permitted to run until the blood-poison has af- 
fected the entire organism to the point of weakness, 
the voluntary muscular system should not be taxed 
unduly, but some degree of exercise (hand-rubbing, 
if the creature is too weak to move about), and in 
the open air, is desirable. Fresh air, light, and 
plenty of pure water are always in order. 

PREVENTION OF THE "DISTEMPER." 

Whenever there is a distemper "scare," when the 
disease has made its appearance in town, the first 
thing (and, if this is attended to, the only thing nec- 
essary) to be done is to stop the feed entirely ; not a 
lock of hay, no hot mashes, nor a spoonful of any- 
thing, except pure water, should be offered to any 
horse whose lack of condition is even suspected. 
Whatever may be his notion as regards the condition 
of his animals, or his theory as to the origin of the 
disorder, the owner of any number of horses may rest 
assured that only the ones that are predisposed by 
reason of a clogged — that is, an already diseased — 
condition will be "attacked." 



4 HORSES; 

LIKE CAUSES PRODUCE LIKE EFFECTS, 

and since, as I affirm, the "distemper" — influenza, 
epizootic, pink-eye, or whatever name may be pre- 
ferred, for it is only a question of the different stages 
of the same filth -disease — originates, in every in- 
stance, within the body of the animal "attacked," 
there is no occasion for alarm as to " contagion." 
Every horse that is in really " A-i " condition is posi- 
tively as free from danger as though he lived in a 
world where disease and death were unknown ! Such 
horses, being sound and clean, require no change of 
regimen. But if their regimen be changed by a reduc- 
tion of outdoor work, there must be a corresponding 
reduction of food, or they can not remain disease proof. 
Some horses and some men, though not in health, 
are still proof against acute disorders of this type ; 
the reason being that certain chronic "diseases," as 
well as chronic health, are unattended by the " clog- 
ging-up " process, which, if reaching a certain stage, 
necessitates the restorative process popularly known 
under the above names. All disease-producing 
causes should cease at once, especially while the 
"scare" is on, and measures at once taken to change 
the condition of all doubtful animals ; viz., the fat 
ones, and all such as have been "well fed" and not 
well worked. In fact, no horse is well fed if given a 
generous diet without generous exercise. The first 
thing, as before remarked, is a fast, the extent of 
which must be determined by the attendant or the 
director ; but it should depend upon the degree of the 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 41 

supposed indisposition. The remedy is a safe one, to 
whatever extent it may be used. The effects of a 
few days' fast would be some degree of languor and 
indisposition for work or exercise, and the greater 
the need of abstinence, the more marked would be 
these symptoms. The fasting horse would act "lazy," 
or as if already in the first stage of the disorder, 
which, in fact, may be the case. He will not, how- 
ever, be likely to go beyond this stage under this 
regimen. Should unmistakable symptoms of the 
overflow become apparent, however, the fast should 
continue until these abate very noticeably. Then 
the diet should be "dry," (that is, no grtiels, mashes, 
or slops), and very abstemious as to quantity. Free 
(cool, not cold) water-drinking should be allowed at 
all times, except directly before meals or for two 
hours after. If the animal is thirsty at these pro- 
scribed times a little cool water may be allowed — 
little and often — until finally thirst is appeased. But 
there will be no unusual degree of thirst if the food 
given is not too abundant for the present capacity of 
the digestive organs, which is very much reduced. 
Appease the present thirst, but prevent it to-morrow 
by a still further reduction of the feed. 

In some cases an attack otherwise sure to come 
would be averted if the animal was put on half-ra- 
tions, if this was done before any lack of appetite was 
discerned, and if he were given plenty of open-air ex- 
ercise, and the stable (as it should be always) so ven- 
tilated as to be ever free from a close or stuffy condi- 
tion. Fresh air is Nature's febrifuge, and the hotter 



42 



HORSES: 



and closer the stable, and the more profuse the 
blanketing, the worse it must be for our fever pa- 
tient. Cold air is not necessarily fresh; it certainly is 
not unless it has free communication with the main 
body of air without ; nor do a few cracks and crevices 
afford sufficient ventilation for any ryamber of horses. 

HAND-RUBBING VS. DRUGS. 

Trainers understand the importance of hand-rub- 
bing in fitting horses for the track; but its value as 
a curative measure in fever, or in cases such as I 
have just cited, is not generally recognized. As in 
training for the track, the rubbing presses out the 
fatty globules and leaves the flesh clean and free — 
making a firm, pliant, springy muscle ; so in the con- 
dition of disease referred to, the filthy humors which 
constitute the disease and have rendered the fever 
necessary are pressed into the circulation, from 
which they are secreted by the appropriate glands, 
and find an outlet through the various excretories. 
In cases where nitre, digitalis, etc., have been given 
"for the kidneys/' many noble animals have been 
sacrificed who would have been saved by causing 
them to swallow hot water freely, withholding all 
food, manipulating their limbs and muscles as before 
remarked, and keeping the poison-drugs out of them 
entirely. The diuretic may "start the water/' and 
this manner of starting it may not prove fatal ; but 
it is too often followed by a complete relapse — the 
animal dying from blood-poison shortly after. The 
same may be said with regard to purgative medi- 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



43 



cines. Injections of hot water and free kneading of 
the bowels, or percussion, are always safer and more 
effectual. 

CONCERNING THE USE OF THE BLANKET. 

Blanketing in stables is often favored solely on ac- 
count of the better appearance of the coat ; the hair 
does not grow so long, and it keeps smooth and 
glossy with less grooming. In the absence of the 
blanket the hair g*rows long and affords complete 
protection from cold, and is as much better as it is 
more natural. Other things equal, the horse that re- 
ceives the most coddling in the way of blankets, 
warm stables (especially if warmth be secured by 
non-ventilation), guarding from wet, cold, etc., will 
be the least fitted for real service and the most sub- 
ject to disease. If blanketed and kept in a close 
stable the horse will shiver in the cold in spite of 
blankets and extra robes ; while unblanketed and ac- 
customed to an airy, i.e., a well-ventilated stable — 
for size alone does not insure pure air — he will stand, 
even in the most exposed situations on a severe win- 
ter's day, without any trembling. There are times, 
of course, w r hen standing for any great length of time 
in a bleak location, especially after sweating freely, 
that some extra protection for the toughest horse 
even is useful ; but the practice of immediately en- 
veloping a sweaty horse with blanket or robe, and 
especially when the halt is to be a brief one, is any- 
thing but sound. A few minutes' exposure after hot 
work is an intense relief, even on the coldest day, and 



44 



HORSES: 



the added covering occasions positive discomfort to 
the heated animal, and is of no advantage whatever. 
After a fezv minutes have been allowed for the relief 
mentioned, and if used to blanketing if he has to 
stand long in the cold, the blanket may be adjusted. 
But there is much unconscious cruelty practiced in 
the inappropriate use of the blanket at all seasons of 
the year. My own practice has been to dispense with 
blanketing entirely, in stable and out ; rarely throwing 
any cover over my horses, whetlfer they are sweaty 
or not, and regardless of the season or the weather ; 
never, in short, except in cases where one may be not 
only very hot, but also extremely tired — in such a case 
some extraordinary care is necessary. By pursuing 
this course I have never had a horse " catch cold," 
nor made sick from any cause, when under my care 
or cared for under my direction. Nor is this experi- 
ence peculiar to my own horses, but tallies with that 
of many persons who are simply careless as to the 
treatment their horses receive, as well as others who 
have adopted the rule after mature consideration as 
a preventive of sickness. The fact is that few per- 
sons appreciate how perfectly the hairy coat of the 
horse is adapted to his varying needs, and how effect- 
ually it protects him from wet, cold, heat, or sudden 
changes. There is no analogy between his w r et coat 
of hair and a wet blanket (or wet garments about 
ourselves), and the fear of it, as a general rule, is a 
blind sort of instinct on our part. 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 45 

" CLIPPING " 

is, therefore, an abuse which should not be perpe- 
trated. It is unnatural, and no amount of care can 
fully atone for the loss of his natural coat. The fact 
is that both horse and owner are by nature designed 
for service and to become inured to exposure, and not 
for " molly-coddlers ,, ; and, under use, both become 
proof against harm from what is often considered 
rough treatment, but which in fact increases their 
vigor and effectually guards them from disease. But 
to rob a horse of his hair is to put upon him an un- 
natural kind of exposure, with no compensating ad- 
vantage. 

The digestive system, along with the entire organ- 
ism, is exalted in proportion to the degree of active 
exercise in the open air ; in fact, work, cold weather, 
and pure air increase the digestive powers and all 
the forces of the organism. There is a limit, of 
course, as with all rules, to the application of this 
principle ; but the principle holds good under all cir- 
cumstances. Blanketing a horse lessens his digestive 
capacity, and anything which tends in that direction 
reduces all the vital powers ; the fact being that the 
more he can digest, the more he can endure, whether 
of work or exposure. This is simply because the 
more his vital powers are taxed, providing always 
they be not overtaxed, the more he can digest; 
since, as remarked elsewhere, the digestive fluids are 
secreted from the blood in proportion to the body's 
needs for nutriment, and not in proportion to the 



46 HORSES: 

amount of food swallowed. Extra work and expos- 
ure to cold, by a corresponding consumption of the 
tissues, cause demand for an increased amount of 
food to make good the waste, and the digestive flu- 
ids are increased in like measure. Blanketing a 
horse does not diminish the size of his stomach, and 
hence he will, at least for a time if permitted, eat as 
much as if unblanketed, and would continue to eat 
more than he needed, and would stuff himself when- 
ever opportunity offered. So, too, he will for a time 
(and always until affected injuriously by the means) 
eat as much when at leisure as when working. But 
eating and digesting are far from synonymous terms. 
He can not digest more than he needs, and any ex- 
cess above such needs is not only .ft? much for indiges- 
tion, but tends strongly to the imperfect digestion 
of all the food swallowed and to a condition of gen- 
eral disorder. 

KIND TREATMENT. 

In addition to the causes already mentioned which 
impair digestion, and therefore predispose to disease, 
unkind treatment is often a serious one. All horses 
are more or less sensitive, while some are as " sensi- 
tive as a woman " to the treatment they receive. 
An outburst of anger, accompanied by twitching or 
yelling, directly before, during, or soon after a meal, 
would absolutely prohibit or delay digestion in case 
of a fine-grained animal, and perhaps occasion serious 
mischief. Severe indigestion often results from this 
cause in the case of human beings — victims to their 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 47 

own or their companions' temper. The horse appre- 
ciates kind treatment, and it pays to give him the 
kindest. 

OVERDRIVING — OVERWORK. 



Overdriving is a relative term. The horse that 
never travels mere than one mile at the top of his 
speed, is overdriven if pushed three miles at a high 
rate ; while another, or the same, gradually worked 
up to it, may make five. The ordinary driving-horse 
that makes only his five to ten miles a day, and that 
at a leisurely pace, is overdriven if sent twenty-five 
miles at a stretch and at, say, the rate of eight miles 
an hour ; while another, or the same, perhaps, after 
proper preparation, may make that distance in two 
and a half hours, and, with an hour's rest, return at the 
same rate, without being overdriven. Again, a horse 
that is driven every day, from twenty to forty miles, 
and kept in condition, will go seventy-five miles in 
any one day, at a rate depending upon the quality of 
the animal, and without straining, and may even 
make the return journey on the following day with- 
out harm if he is a powerful fellow by nature ; but, 
following any extraordinary effort there should always 
be a day of absolute or comparative rest — sufficient 
rest, at all events — though a little " walk-round " may 
usually be an advantage, unless the animal chances 
to be disabled. In this case a little extra hand-rub- 
bing will be beneficial, and care must be taken not 
to overfeed ; for if there has been a real depletion of 
the vital forces by reason of too hard usage, it must 



48 HORSES: 

be borne in mind that the digestive system is a sharer 
in the hurt, and that rest alone, with the treatment — 
the " passive exercise " (hand-rubbing) — suggested, 
or perhaps a very limited diet for one day, will be 
the best means for restoration. In nine cases in ten, 
when a horse is taken sick soon after extraordinary 
work, it is the result of feeding him too soon or too 
much — before he had become sufficiently rested. 
Whenever a horse has been pushed to extremes, 
driven to or nearly to exhaustion, the time allowed 
for recuperation before feeding, should be correspond- 
ingly lengthened. For instance, while he may eat 
his dinner immediately following a leisurely drive, he 
being free from heat or weariness ; under the pressure 
of a day's journey which has well-nigh exhausted him, 
it would be an act of mercy to withhold all food for 
twelve hours. In fact, to feed sooner than this con- 
stitutes, in some instances, " cruelty to animals," and 
is attended with great risk. In all cases of exhaus- 
tion from overwork, the best stimulant, the best 
" tonic," the best nutriment, is — rest. Even an over- 
dose of this remedy is safer than an underdose, which 
can be said of no other " medicine." 

CHEST FOUNDER 

often results from a neglect of the above-named pre- 
caution ; and constant overfeeding is a very prolific 
source of this disease. The stomach is invariably the 
seat of the disorder. That is, it originates there, and 
can never be eradicated while this organ continues 
diseased. The lungs are often affected both " sym- 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 49 

pathetically " and by continuity of tissue. The 
muscles of the chest and shoulders, as well as the 
entire bony structure — from the diaphragm to the 
shoulder-blades and ribs — are made sore and lame by 
means of the congested stomach, whether this organ 
be acutely affected from some special cause, or chron- 
ically diseased from habitual excess in diet. The 
more frequently the horse is fed the more danger 
there is of this chronic disease of the stomach. Long 
intervals between meals afford time for the subsidence 
of the congested condition which is the normal result 
of the digestive process. If this process is too often 
repeated there is always a liability to cause it to be- 
come chronic ; or, in other words, the normal digest- 
ive congestion is transformed into a disease. No 
doubt many of my readers have themselves experi- 
enced the very same kind of lameness, following a ball 
or party, and have attributed it to having " caught 
cold." A draught from some window was supposed 
to be the cause of the mischief, instead of the fourth 
meal, eaten, perhaps, when the person was hot and 
tired from dancing, and when he or she had already 
eaten one meal too much. Upon all such occasions, 
except for the mere sensual gratification derived from 
tickling the palate, there is no more need of another 
supper than of a fourth suit of clothes to dance in at 
a Fourth-of-July ball, when a single suit of mosquito- 
netting would, so far as comfort is concerned, be su- 
perfluous. The stomach lies close under and in con- 
tact with the diaphragm, — the great concavo-convex 
muscle which alone separates the stomach from the 
3 



5o 



HORSES: 



lungs, — and which, so far from constituting an impas- 
sable barrier, may itself take on a congested state and 
pass it on to the lungs. From this might arise acute 
congestion* with imminent danger to life, more espe- 
cially if from causes already mentioned the blood has 
been constantly or often affected by the impurities 
arising from indigestion, so that the tissues of the 
muscles are not perfectly constituted ; or the disorder 
might become chronic in- the form of bronchitis, or 
" heaves," which corresponds to the asthma of the 
human dyspeptic. The liver, which is in immediate 
contact with the stomach, often becomes congested, 
sometimes deeply, even fatally, diseased in the same 
manner. And so, by continuity of tissue, as already 
stated, the entire frame forward — the chest — may 
readily become " foundered." I am satisfied we have 
here the cause of the disorder under consideration. 

Generally speaking, a chronic disease is the result 
of some chronic provocation. The real seat of the 
disorder being unrecognized, the horse is likely to be 
fed as often, and as " generously," as before the dis- 
order became so severe as to give rise to the " well- 
known symptoms." Long before this, however, the 
creature would, had he the gift of speech, have com- 
plained of dull pains and disagreeable sensations. 
To be sure, he might not, even then, exhibit greater 
wisdom than is shown by many of his human proto- 
types, who feel these same sensations without ever 



* In this case total abstinence from food for a day or more, if 
necessary, is indicated. 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 51 

realizing the cause. Thousands upon thousands of 
human beings are thus affected and still take their 
three meals a day, work or play, grow worse, swallow 
medicines (prescribed by physicians as ignorant as 
themselves — perhaps suffering from the same com- 
plaint) and go on to their deaths without ever know- 
ing what killed them. The natural cure for this dis- 
ease, if my position is correct, lies along the line of 
abstemiousness in diet. When the stomach is dis- 
eased, it demands a treatment similar to that which 
we prescribe for a sick man or horse, viz. : light work 
and long intervals of rest. In chest founder, a much 
restricted diet, not more than two meals a day, with 
exercise restricted, but gradually, very gradually, in- 
creased (with diet also increased, but always leaning 
to the minimum) — this constitutes the general line 
of treatment. Although this is regarded as an 
incurable disease, still, I am satisfied that, intelli- 
gently wrought out, this system would restore a 
very large proportion of horses afflicted with chest 
founder. Time, often a very long time — a full year, 
perhaps, of the wisest management— would be neces- 
sary ; but it is not to be expected that a disease pro- 
duced (as this often is) by years of abuse can be erad- 
icated in a few weeks, though sometimes it may be, 
as in the case of an especially strongly constituted 
animal and under especially judicious treatment. 

SOME HINTS RELATING TO FOOD AND DRINK. 

The full capacity of a horse's stomach is about fif- 
teen or sixteen quarts, but if fully distended it would 



52 HORSES: 

be too full for the performance of its functions. 
Hence, when digestion is in progress, the stomach 
is usually no more than two-thirds full ; the contents 
gradually passing onward into the intestines as more 
food enters the stomach. In eating a full feed of 
hay the stomach receives what would constitute two 
or three times its fill, so that the part first eaten does 
not remain very long — perhaps twenty to thirty min- 
utes subjected to stomach digestion — after which it 
passes along little by little, as it becomes fitted for 
intestinal digestion, and finally, when fitted therefor, 
it is gradually absorbed into the circulation, becom- 
ing blood. The albuminous portions of the food are 
mainly digested in the stomach, and grain contains 
four to six times as much of the albuminoids as a 
like bulk of hay in the stomach, ue. t hay that has 
been thoroughly masticated and swallowed contains 
one-sixth to one-fourth as much of the albuminoids 
as the grain, bulk for bulk. Consequently grain re- 
quires a longer time in the stomach for sufficient gas- 
tric juice to be secreted and to exert its full dissolv- 
ing effects. If, then, the grain be first eaten and 
soon thereafter the hay, we may be certain that the 
grain will be forced from the stomach before it is 
perfectly digested ; but if we feed the hay first, it is 
not difficult to understand that the grain will remain 
in the stomach a sufficient time. 

A correspondent in the Dublin Farmer says with 
relation to mixing food for horses, " We should not 
put a great amount of coarse food with the grain, or 
we will give them more than the stomach will hold, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 53 

and the last portions eaten will force the first ones 
into the intestines before they are thoroughly im- 
pregnated with gastric juice. Thus, two pounds of 
hay and four pounds of oats are about as much as 
should be fed at once when mixed, and if more oats 
are given the hay should be decreased ; for instance, 
five pounds of oats and one and a half pounds of 
hay." From the foregoing remarks we may obtain a 
better understanding of the effect of water on diges- 
tion. If after a full meal of hay followed by oats we 
allow the horse to drink profusely, a portion of the 
oats will be carried away into the intestines prema- 
turely, with a corresponding loss of benefit from the 
grain, besides the important consideration that such 
portions of the grain do harm by exciting more 
or less irritation by reason of their indigestion. In 
default of digestion there will be more or less fer- 
mentation, as indicated by flatulency of the bowels, 
and the absorption of fermented food into the circu- 
lation is promotive of disease. The effect of such a 
drink after hay alone is less serious, because hay re- 
quires less time in the stomach. Still, it is believed 
that the free drinking should be between meals, 
rather than immediately before or soon after. A 
quart or two of water following the meal will pass 
the food in the stomach or be absorbed by that or- 
gan without interfering materially with the food. If 
after a meal the stomach receives its fill and more of 
cold water, it is chilled somewhat, and the secretion 
of gastric juice is suspended until the water has 
passed off or is warmed to the normal temperature 



54 HORSES; 

of the body, besides the undue dilution of this fluid 
with water renders it inert and insures indigestion. 
" When the stomach has got rid of a considerable 
part of its contents, it seems a difficult matter for it 
to force out the remainder/' says this same Irish au- 
thority, " and fermentation and colic sometimes re- 
sult. [I can not believe that this would be the case 
except from excess, unless it might be that the ani- 
mal had not drunk enough prior to the meal to fur- 
nish the blood with sufficient liquids. In this case 
there might remain a residue of food in the stomach, 
but such residue would have been better in the bin 
after all.] A drink of water at such a time," he con- 
tinues, " by carrying out the substance, which has re- 
mained long enough, relieves the condition. This 
probably explains why some tram - car [horse-car] 
companies have found it advisable to water their 
horses at midnight. " 

SORE BACK. 

A vast amount of needless suffering is caused to 
our patient and willing servants from this disease. 
Many a horse, with high feed and little work, con- 
stantly suffers, in spite of physics, with raw sores, ne- 
cessitating constant changes of the position of the 
saddle — to make a new sore while the old one heals. 
This is not only painful to the horse, but also to the 
tender-hearted owner, who so pities the noble creat- 
ure that he "favors" him all he can — by refusing to 
have him harnessed for any one except when abso- 
lutely necessary — himself going on foot to u save " 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 55 

his horse; thus doing precisely the wrong thing. 
The sores may thus be cured, but not the disease. 
How almost surely a cure results when the animal is 
by some fortunate circumstance put to steady serv- 
ice. Such animals are unsound throughout ; their 
tissues are formed from impure blood, the product 
of indigestion. They eat, but not " in the sweat of 
their brows" — and it takes a good deal of sweat (or 
rather work, for the more one works, the less easily 
he sweats) to prevent disease if " a good deal of 
food " is eaten. It is quite possible for a horse to 
become sore-backed from overwork — either relative 
or positive overwork ; that is, where the work is ex- 
tremely hard or the diet absolutely deficient. In 
the first instance the creature, working beyond his 
strength, so exhausts his reserve force, that he has 
not sufficient vitality to digest his food ; hence he 
suffers from indigestion and impure blood, the same 
as the horse of leisure who eats to excess. A starva- 
tion diet accomplishes the same thing, finally, only 
in a different way; the system being under-nour- 
ished from lack of food instead of any fault with the 
digestive organs. It might be said that in such cases 
the digestive organs become weak and disordered as 
well as the general muscular system ; but the 

TANNER EXPERIMENT PROVED 

that after an extended fast there was practically no 
limit to the capacity of the digestive organs until 
reparation had been made for the forty days' canni- 
balism. He ate every two or three hours ; gaining 



56 HORSES: 

in less than three weeks all the weight he had lost in 
his forty days' fast. His added weight, however, put 
on so rapidly, was not the sort of stuff to give him 
staying power for hard muscular exertion. His de- 
cline in weight being attended by complete rest of 
the digestive apparatus, these organs could make up 
for lost time ; but, had he declined by reason of dys- 
pepsia, as is the fact with a great proportion of horses 
and men who decline, then, in that case, his meals 
should have been light, few, and far between, or his 
work brought up to balance the account, to insure a 
return to health and normal weight. 

When sores come readily and heal with difficulty, 
or do not " stay healed/' the creature, whether man or 
beast, is " scrofulous.'* Indigestion and foul air are 

THE CAUSES OF SCROFULA; 

the blood (and consequently the tissues) being formed 
second by second, or indeed constantly, from impure 
material. 

Pure air is as essential as food — more so, in fact, 
if we are to distinguish between the two, since either 
horses or men can live for weeks without food or 
days without drink, but if deprived of air for as 
many minutes death is certain. If the air breathed 
habitually is very impure, a scrofulous condition is 
the inevitable result. An excess of food or a defi- 
ciency of air will produce this disease ; and, since one 
or both of these causes are operative in some degree 
in most, if not all — fearfully so in many — stables, we 
have not to search for " malaria," " disease waves," 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET $7 

contagion, nor any " monkery " of that sort, to account 
for the epidemics which sweep over the land. When 
quite a percentage of all the horses in the country are 
predisposed in this way, as they surely are, it need 
cause no surprise when, under stress of some favoring 
condition in the atmosphere, Nature undertakes the 
restoration of the diseased ones, or all of the worst 
cases, and sets the mucous membranes of their noses 
to eliminating the accumulated scrofulous humors — 
or, in plain terms, filth. 

" Rightly understood, the external symptoms of a 
disease constitute a restorative process that can not 
be brought to a satisfactory issue till the cause of the 
evil is removed." Skin diseases, ulcers, catarrhal dis- 
orders, including 

" GLANDERS," 

in short, all blood disorders, are amply accounted for 
in the manner described. To know the cause of an 
evil is to enable us to prevent it, and is an immense 
aid in our efforts to restore health when the cause 
has been for any reason permitted to produce sick- 
ness. But we shall always fail in our search if we 
look for anything in the wrong direction ; and, in 
attempting to aid Nature (for that is the physician's 
sole business) in her efforts to cure, we are certain to 
hinder her unless we know how the organism is af- 
fected, and just what she is trying to accomplish. 

In cases of disease, when from any cause the ali- 
mentary apparatus is so impaired that food is trans- 
formed into " humors " largely, instead of into pure 

3* 



58 HORSES: 

blood, about the most foolish thing I can conceive is 
to keep on feeding and administer " condition pow- 
ders/' purgative medicines, or apply a seton to run off 
the products ; and this is continually being done all 
over the country. A few days' fast and a sufficiently 
restricted diet will enable the system to cleanse it- 
self — to li clean house/' so to say — by letting the 
overtaxed excretories have everything their own 
way, while the digestive organs obtain, meantime, 
the rest they so much need. 

IN KIDNEY COMPLAINTS 

— which usually arise from the same cause — the kid- 
neys are especially taxed in all cases of excessive ali- 
mentation. Instead of giving these organs more to 
do by feeding or drugging the patient, cease for a 
little time ; allow warm water plentifully if there is 
thirst ; even turn down a few quarts occasionally in 
any event. * If the kidneys have struck work, they 
will resume as soon as they have had a little rest. 
Digitalis and niter would not have to be resorted to 
but for the continued feeding, and, in any case, they 
are more 'ikely to do harm than good. 
I will illustrate in a manner the 

RELATION OF CONDITION TO RESERVED FORCE. 

I have already given the definition of the former 
term, and will here define the latter. The term 



* "Of all diuretics, pure water is the best," says Dr. Dickinson 
in his celebrated work on " Bright's Disease" (W. Howship 
Dickinson, M.D., F.R.C.P., etc.) 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



59 



"reserved "force " denotes the balance of physical 
power on the part, we will say, of the horse, to con- 
tinue working on any given day beyond J lis ordinary 
daily habit and without extreme weariness; or, at 
least, it is here used in that sense. As this capacity 
is diminished by inaction, or augmented by use, we 
have the ill or the well-conditioned horse. The 
amount of labor the horse can accomplish up to, or 
nearly to, the point above mentioned, may be said 
to constitute his reserved force — his vital bank ac- 
count — except the power to continue to live and to 
recover, supposing that he were to be pressed to 
complete exhaustion. Strictly speaking, this would 
represent the limit of his reserved force ; but we 
have in view the former definition. 

Let us, for example, take the case of a gentleman's 
driving horse, little used — one, say, that has for years 
seldom done more than his five to ten miles roading 
every day at a " mixed " rate of speed ; seldom mak- 
ing more than ten, as often making only five, and 
frequently remaining in his stall all day.* Let us 
suppose (for we can do no more than this, nor is more 
needed to illustrate my meaning) that he could make 
to-day, at an ordinary " across country " or road rate, 
forty miles (or twenty at a sharp pace), and, though 
coming to stable pretty tired, still not overtaxed. 



* A large box-stall, with a hard floor and no litter, may be 
reckoned so much " to the good "; since every step the horse 
takes up to a certain limit is an advantage ; and to remain abso- 
lutely inactive for a single day hitched in a narrow stall, is, as a 
rule, a positive injury. 



60 HORSES: 

How to put him in shape to make seventy-five miles 
in a day at a favoring pace, say in twelve hours, or 
forty in five hours, and without taxing him more 
heavily than in the case first supposed — that is the 
question. Of course, there are many horses that 
could not be brought up to this point, but it would 
be easily within the limits of any natural roadster. So 
far as condition relates to vigorous health and longev- 
ity, the limit would be better fixed at a somewhat 
lower figure perhaps, providing always that the diet 
w 7 ere correspondingly restricted ; for it is certain that 
the horse that is fueled up, so to say, for two hun- 
dred miles a week, had better make that number 
than anything under it. Without a waste of words, 
I will say that the principle consists in gradually in- 
creasing the work up to say twenty-five to fifty miles 
a day, averaging thirty-five perhaps, and at a good 
average road-gait. The point is that a road-horse 
may accomplish on any given day, if he is kept in 
condition, two to five times his daily average — de- 
pending, of course, upon what his average is.* He 
may approach this for two days in succession, even, 
if naturally a powerful animal, and without overtax- 
ing him ; providing this is followed by ample rest — 
say an entire day in a box-stall, or a little walk- 
round on the " off day." In this I am not consider- 



* It is evident that while a horse that averages ten miles a day 
might be driven five times that distance upon occasion, the one 
making" thirty-five or forty would be limited to say eighty miles, 
or about twice his average ; the degree of exhaustion in the two 
cases being, we will suppose, about equal. 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 6 1 

ing the constitutional difference in horses, as to their 
varying capacity for performing great tasks ; that is 
altogether another question. We know that there is 
a limit to each creature's capacity for improvement; 
but, so much has use to do with this question, that 
under a wise cultivation the reserve force, or the 
power, we will say, of a scrub-horse may be so im- 
proved, that he could perform easily on any given 
day or week an amount of work (no reference being 
made to a mile spurt, by any means) which would be 
impossible for the most superior animal not in " con- 
dition/' although appearing well and moving about 
glibly enough when taken out for a little drive. 
This principle, though comprehended in some meas- 
ure by horsemen, and governing their operations to 
a degree, is, after all, very imperfectly understood ; 
that is, they do not " work it for all there is in it." 

FAT AND DISEASE. 

In undertaking to put a "soft" horse into condi- 
tion there will be at first a decrease in weight. This 
can not be prevented (even if it were desirable) by 
increasing his feed, which has all along been excess- 
ive, considering his work. It will take some time 
and increase of work before he will require any extra 
feed, if indeed a diminution may not be desirable 
(see case given in note to Turf, Field and Farm, p. 24). 
But when he shall have been brought up to a high 
condition of power, he may even have become as 
plump as at the start when he was fat, and still not 
have any fat about him ; if so, his weight will have 



62 HORSES: 

considerably increased. Flesh is heavier than fat ; i.e. y 
its specific gravity is greater. 

The view has for years been forcing itself upon my 
mind (and recent study and reflection upon past and 
present experiences have confirmed it so unmistak- 
ably that it has become a settled conviction) that the 
power of the organism to withstand disease-produc- 
ing causes from without depends upon the absence 
of disease-producing causes within. If the latter are 
practically avoided, man becomes practically disease- 
proof; and it is no less true of the horse; and, 
moreover, that in proportion to the excess of fat and 
water in the tissues of the body, there exists a sus- 
ceptibility to epidemic or other diseases; w T hile, with 
bodies made strong and clean with true flesh pro- 
duced by a well-balanced regimen, we are compara- 
tively proof against all forms of disease. 

And now comes Professor Gustave Jaeger, of Stutt- 
gart, " who has proved," says Dr. Schlegel, in a re- 
cent essay, " that the specific gravity of different in- 
dividuals is very different, and that the state of 
health of those individuals is closely connected with 
their specific gravity. The greater the weight of the 
human body in comparison to the space which it oc- 
cupies, i.e.y the greater its specific gravity, the more 
able it is to resist epidemic diseases. Persons of a 
low specific gravity are taken ill from very insignifi- 
cant causes, such as a cold, and are very susceptible 
to contagious diseases. Such persons have usually a 
fullness of the body, and are even corpulent, but just 
that which gives them a great size is useless ballast, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 63 

viz. : fat and water. These substances endow the 
heaviest bodies with a comparatively low specific 
gravity, giving, at the same time, to the constitu- 
tion, little power of resistance. " 

The German scientists are very much interested 
in Dr. Jaeger's discoveries, and have great faith in 
them. No one there doubts that he has discovered 
and proved beyond cavil that the power of the human 
body to resist disease depends upon its specific grav- 
ity, and this unquestionably is a valuable discovery 
to the medical profession. , 

It is manifestly true that the soundness of the tis- 
sues and their specific gravity must depend upon the 
quality and quantity of the ingesta, including the 
kind of air habitually breathed, and upon the balance 
maintained between the amount of work performed 
and of food eaten. Upon the wisdom displayed in 
carrying out these views or considerations depends 
the power of the organism to maintain that just 
balance which w r e term health. 

It is not essential to fix the exact 

AMOUNT OF FOOD NECESSARY 

for any and every horse, so that the owner may 
weigh and measure exactly in proportion to the work 
or exercise his horse is doing. Horses differ some- 
what as to their needs (less, however, than is usually 
supposed) — some working harder than others to ac- 
complish the same service — but it is entirely out of 
reason for a horse averaging only fifty to seventy- 
five miles buggy-riding a week to consume as much 



64 HORSES: 

grain as a grocer's horse pulling an express wagon 
one hundred and fifty miles, besides taking the fam- 
ily out for a drive every Sunday perhaps. And yet 
the latter performing all this keeps plump, round, 
and " feeling good " throughout the year, on say nine 
quarts, often less, of oats a day ; while often enough 
the horse of leisure consumes twelve quarts of grain 
and possibly as much hay as the worker. For a time 
he may maintain a fine appearance, but we seldom ob- 
serve instances of such animals remaining round and 
handsome as well as spirited to what is usually re- 
garded a ripe old age — say eighteen to twenty years ; 
but why not thirty-five to forty? But oftener than 
otherwise, as already remarked, these animals begin to 
decline, grow seedy (dyspeptic), and, at the age of eight 
or ten years, become worthless as family horses, where 
appearance counts for more than, or is regarded as 
synonymous with, condition. Out of the ranks of this 
class, too, come the victims to acute disease ; a few 
" attacks " of this sort (unless finally fatal) preceding 
a general decline. 

As a general thing our people use too much hay. 
It is the prevalent idea everywhere that a horse may 
have " all the hay he will eat up clean," whether he 
is a worker or not. Thus he is at the mercy of his 
appetite, which will often lead one horse not averag- 
ing one hour of hard work a day to eat double the 
hay eaten by another that works six, eight, or ten 
hours. " Horses ain't alike," satisfies the average man 
when this question comes up. Now, if a horse is doing 
steady hard work, as, for example, hauling heavy loads 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 65 

for eight to ten hours a day, and is sufficiently fed, he 
will maintain a more nearly perfect condition than is 
possible for the horse whose exercise is very light and 
irregular. The latter is certain to become disordered 
unless sufficiently restricted not only as to grain, but 
hay also. For instance, take the hard-working 
draught horse that does six days hard work every 
week. Ten pounds of hay and six quarts of 
whole corn for a horse of this kind weighing, say, 
1,200 pounds, would be a generous and ample ration : 
the breakfast consisting of three pounds of hay and 
three quarts of corn, and at night, two hours after 
quitting work, seven pounds of hay followed by three 
quarts of corn. The hay might all be fed at night, 
and only the three quarts of corn in the morning ; 
the horse in this case filling himself with hay at 
night ; then having his three quarts of corn (or its 
equivalent in other grain), after which he will lie 
pretty much all night contentedly, finishing his hay 
at early morn, when he will be ready to do justice to 
his small feed of grain. Of course, many will still 
hold to the three-meals system, but we are improv- 
ing upon the old practice by giving only a light feed 
of grain at noon; no hay, except morning and night. 
I can not too strongly urge, however, and especially 
for hard-working horses, a fair trial of the two-meals 
plan, with the principal meal at night, first allowing 
a liberal time for rest. 

In my own city I find that one truckman working 
five horses, feeds each, regardless of size or work, 
eight quarts daily of corn and oats. One pair, weigh- 



66 HORSES: 

ing 1,350 pounds each, and hauling heavy loads; the 
other three animals about 1,000 pounds each, and 
doing light work — all fed alike ! In this stable, last 
year, there were three cases of distemper — the three 
lightly-worked, but equally fed, animals were the vic- 
tims ! Does this not afford much more than a hint? 
In the stable next door are seven horses, weighing 
about 1,400 pounds each, and doing ten hours' hard 
w r ork every day, and yet they eat but six quarts of 
grain each — four quarts of corn (two quarts morning 
and night), and two quarts of oats, the latter the only 
feed at noon. These horses are in splendid condition 
all the time : they look fat, but they are not so, being 
filled out with solid muscle. Another pair, one of 
the city teams, young horses, four and five years old, 
weighing 1,500 pounds each, have but six quarts of 
oats a day, and present an elegant appearance. A 
young, growing animal, other things equal, requires 
more than an old one. Indeed, the digestive powers 
of any creature correspond very closely to his muscu- 
lar powers. Hence, as old age and decrepitude come 
on, the food ration, as well as the work ration, re- 
quires to be curtailed. So long, however, as any ani- 
mal or any man can and does perform his full measure 
of work, he can and will digest his full measure of 
food — providing, always, that he has a full measure 
of fresh air twenty-four hours every day ! 

If the foregoing be the ration for a draught horse 
working from morning till night, how much should 
be allowed for the healthy maintenance of a horse 
weighing goo or 950 pounds, standing in the stable 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 6? 

nearly all day, and only taken out for an hour's 
drive, or possibly making on an average five miles a 
day? Without doubt five pounds of hay and four 
quarts of oats (or two and a half of corn) would be 
more than he would be able to digest. Probably 
nice bright barley or rye straw would be much bet- 
ter than the hay in all such cases, as well as for 
young and growing animals ; the grain ration being 
sufficiently increased, say fifty per cent. Thousands 
of horses in private stables — horses whose work is far 
from light — are kept thoroughly nourished and in 
prime condition on four to six quarts of oats, with 
liberal rations of hay, while other horses look pinched 
on double the quantity of grain, though taking no 
more, perhaps less exercise. In fact, such horses are 
victims to excess in diet, and their owners can not 
comprehend the fact, but would sooner increase than 
diminish their feed. Three times the work or one- 
third the food would in the course of a few months 
(chronic diseases can never be suddenly cured) im- 
prove the appearance of many of these underworked 
horses who are swallowing ten to twelve quarts of 
grain every day. 

This affords a hint and a very useful one to such 
as desire to study the question. The old saying, 

" one's meat another's poison," 

as usually applied, is most mischievous and misleading. 
The fact is that horses, like men, are when at leisure 
(if not always) natural gourmands, and the harder all 
creatures work, the less applicable this term is in de- 



68 HORSES: 

scribing their dietetic characteristics ; for the more we 
work, the more we must and are every way entitled to 
eat. When working up to one's full capacity and ex- 
posed to the vicissitudes of a cold climate, then, and 
then only, is the appetite anything of a guide as to 
the amount of food best calculated to promote health. 
With rare exceptions horses will never restrict their 
appetites, but will continue to eat until they have 
largely exceeded a physiological ration, whether of 
hay or grain. Whenever an exception to this rule 
has to be noted, it may be depended upon that the ani- 
mal is already somewhat clogged, and, in consequence, 
is slightly " off his feed." Some horses are, it is true, 
less gluttonous than most of the race ; but to the last 
one, especially when doing light work, they will eat 
too much if permitted ; or, in other words, they will 
get ahead of their digestion ; and are, therefore, predis- 
posed to the influenza cure or to the pink-eye cure, or 
some other of Nature's methods of eliminating disease. 
We know that there is no safety in permitting any 
horse to have free access to the grain bin ; but if he 
has such liberty with the hay-mow, or has hay in his 
crib most of the time, which is the same thing, he 
will certainly become dyspeptic in time, or at any 
rate will keep himself so stuffed out (unless he is so 
overfed with grain as to have little appetite for hay), 
as to be unfit for a free and easy gait on the road 
when first taken out. 

It is no easy matter to insure the health of the 
" sedentary" horse. The fact is, he, like his master, 
is designed by Nature for action, not for a sedentary 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 69 

life, and, as elsewhere remarked, the only possible 
offset for abstinence from exercise is a corresponding 
restriction in food, upon the same principle with 
which we treat the steam engine ; viz., the more 
power required, the more fuel burned. Two impor- 
tant points of difference may be here noted between 
the dead and the living machines: (1) the former 
when not employed requires no fuel ; the latter is 
never totally unemployed, strictly speaking ; since the 
entire organism is in a measure at work, and, therefore, 
requires some fuel (food). (2) The dead engine may be 
fed to its full capacity, though exerting no power be- 
yond the more rapid revolution of its driving-wheels, 
and v if in consequence a part gives out, it may be re- 
placed as good as new, and this replacement may go 
on indefinitely ; as with the old revolutionary gun, 
with its " new lock, stock, and barrel," but not so 
with the living machine. Full rations for light work 
is in direct contravention of Nature's law, and the 
penalty is inevitable — a shortening of life to a great 
degree in every instance, and its speedy stamping out 
in a vast many cases. 

In any event a horse that eats the equivalent of 
five pounds of hay and six quarts of oats daily, should 
take an amount of exercise equivalent to fifteen to 
twenty miles' roading at the rate of six to eight miles 
an hour at least, or say 125 miles every week, even 
if it has to be done with no more than the usual 
regard for the rule I have laid down as to work- 
ing on a full stomach. That is to say, of the two 
rules, viz., (1) ample exercise to balance diet, and (2) 



7 o HORSES: 

no work directly after eating, the first is the most 
important ; but the aim should be to regard both 
rules as closely as possible. So far as the above ra- 
tion is exceeded, there should be a corresponding in- 
crease in the amount of work performed. 

THE BEST FEED. 

For ordinary purposes hay and oats form a com- 
plete diet, and, as all know, these are the staples. I am 
satisfied that the less change or variety there is in 
the feed the better. The stomach of any creature 
becomes adapted to the regular food, and can digest 
and assimilate far better than where it has one kind 
to-day and another to-morrow and another the next, 
or greatly differing quantities of the same. This 
principle is very generally admitted ; but many still 
harbor the idea that some change is essential, as an 
occasional change from oats to corn, and vice versa. 
The tendency of this is to produce indigestion, and 
there is undoubtedly — though it may not be ob- 
served — less perfect digestion in every case for the 
first few days on the new diet."* The reason usually 
given for such a change is that they " eat sharper " 
or have a sharper appetite in consequence. This alone 
w r ould go far to condemn the practice, for there will 
never be a lack of perfect appetite for the regular diet, 
except as the result of getting a little too much of it. It 



* Cows at pasture will generally shrink their milk to some de- 
gree at first if a ration of grain is added to their diet as well as 
when their feed is lessened. The reason is that the stomach has 
to adapt itself to the digestion of a new food. 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET yi 

is truly enough said of some horses that " oats don't 
do them any good," or much good, to say the least. 
These animals are so greedy that they swallow their 
oats with but very little mastication, and hence there 
is a failure in digestion. For such horses whole corn 
is the only proper grain, and in many instances even 
this should be given 

ON THE COB. 

This is by far the best way to feed corn in any case, 
more especially with old horses. Fed thus it is sure 
to get the most complete mastication, so essential to 
digestion and the extraction of the entire nutriment. 
F. D. Curtis, of Kirby homestead, and many others 
speak highly in favor of this feed from actual experi- 
ence. It is almost the exclusive grain fed — and 
sometimes almost the exclusive feed — in the West 
and Southwest. I believe that in many cases the use 
of the cob itself, ground with the corn, is a great ad- 
vantage — furnishing bulk, and some nutriment — es- 
pecially for horses of light work. 

FLATULENCE — CRIBBING. 

The idea prevails very generally that a horse be- 
comes flatulent by swallowing air ; and, if he is a 
" cribber," it is thought to be a sure case. Now it is 
about as difficult a matter for one to take air into the 
stomach as food into the lungs — perhaps I may say 
that it is even more so. Certainly the latter is one 
of the rarest circumstances ; the former is well-nigh 
impossible, and, I believe, never occurs. It is not 



72 HORSES: 

Nature's way of doing things. On the other hand, 
it is most fortunate that she does try to help us out 
of a bad fix, first, by causing the generation of gas 
through fermentation, when too much food has been 
swallowed or taken under wrong conditions ; and 
second, by arranging for its escape by one outlet or 
another. 

The crib-biter is a dyspeptic without doubt. It is 
not positively known that this practice is pursued 
for the purpose of facilitating the eructation of gas 
from the stomach, though many believe this to be 
so, and there are certainly good grounds for this be- 
lief. The practice may arise from the uneasiness oc- 
casioned by the irritation and discomfort of a disor- 
dered stomach. 

" We conclude/' says the Prairie Farmer, "that it 
generally arises in horses in poor condition, and that, 
in the first instance, the habit is acquired from an 
effort of nature to get rid of the gases collected in 
the stomach. We have not known a fat horse to 
take to crib-biting by standing next to another af- 
fected with it, but a lean horse that is difficult to 
get fat may do so. This habit when once acquired, 
will seldom be left off, but the same diseased action 
and tendency to flatulency will still continue. A 
greatly improved regimen is the only hope. We do 
not think that horses inhale the air in crib-biting. 
We consider it an effort to expel air. We never saw 
a horse make a gulp or attempt to swallow air. 
Whether any air is expelled from the stomach in 
crib-biting we can not determine, but think there is 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 73 

some portion, and that the principal noise is from 
the fauces. The construction of the -fauces and 
stomach of a horse renders the eructation of air a dif- 
ficult process, and we have seen horses nearly choked 
by a sudden rush of gas up the oesophagus, but this 
effect was probably caused by the noxious quality 
of the gas. The distention of the stomach of the 
animal in crib-biting depends, we consider, on the 
gases given out from the food, as a proof of which 
the hindering a crib-biter from his habit will not al- 
ways prevent this distention. We all know that 
many persons of sedentary habits are peculiarly lia- 
ble to dyspepsia and flatulency, and we "must all 
have experienced the unpleasant sensation attend- 
ing it. How are they relieved ? By exercise or by 
giving an agent to dispel those gases." 

Since an '-agent" is very inexpensive, at least in 
immediate cash-outlay, and less bothersome than to 
spend one's time in simply exercising an animal that 
has no steady employment, it is often resorted to ; but 
the more dosing he gets, the worse he is off finally. 

In my opinion, cribbing is neither a habit nor a 
vice, but rather a symptom of disease. I have never 
known a case of a horse that fully satisfied my views 
as to condition to take up or continue the practice 
of crib-biting, though, as the writer quoted says, 
horses given to it seldom leave it off. But this is, in 
my opinion, because the disease which gives rise to 
it is allowed to continue by a continuance of the 
same general regimen which caused it. A chronic 
disease is usually the result of chronic disobedience 
4 



74 



HORSES: 



to natural laws — a continued protest, wherein nat- 
ure's patience under abuse is aptly illustrated. Sed- 
entary men and sedentary horses, i.e., those who do 
not work steadily a good portion of the day, are gen- 
erally subject to flatulence; and this is because they 
have an appetite for liberal rations, relatively speak- 
ing (and often positively), notwithstanding the fact 
that the said rations are not " earned by the sweat 
of the brow"! Such individuals are relieved by a 
change of regimen, as working more or eating less, 
perhaps both. It is easier to prevail upon a man to 
take more exercise than to induce him to take less 
food ; and, of the two, the former is far the best. It 
is the same with the horse in all respects. If the 
change is carried far enough, if the work is long and 
steady enough to balance the diet, and if the food is 
of the right sort and taken at proper times, there 
will be entire exemption from indigestion and con- 
sequently from flatulence (perhaps not immediately, 
but finally), and, in the case of the cribbing horse, 
the " habit" will be eventually dropped. Since, 
however, it is not practicable to give all horses suffi- 
cient work or exercise to keep them in prime condi- 
tion, and since they are rarely restricted in diet to 
correspond — for we are inevitably tempted to over- 
feed — few cribbers are ever cured. The horse is will- 
ing to work early and late. He is ambitions to eat 
largely, even though deprived of the work which is 
equally essential to health and (prolonged) life. 

Says a recent writer (and this experience is not 
unique by any means): "We have observed that 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET, 



75 



when crib-biters are on long, slow, regular work, they 
crib less. We have seen many cases in which crib- 
biters being debarred from their habit, have fallen 
away in flesh, and others in which the animal has 
been much more liable to colic ; and we think that 
in many crib-biters the habit is necessary to the 
health of the animal. We usually see crib-biters 
thin, but we think that proceeds more from a dis- 
eased action of the digestive organs than from the 
effect of the habit, and their being poor is no proof 
that crib-biting makes them so. When a crib-biter 
continues in good health and condition, if he can be 
kept apart from other horses, we see no reason why 
he should be debarred from cribbing; and, indeed, 
we think that, generally speaking, it would prove in- 
jurious to him." 

I would advise a trial of corn on the cob for crib- 
bing horses. This gives them honest gnazving and 
less excuse, need, or desire for that which works mis- 
chief. Besides, this form of diet is in other ways 
good for whatever ails them. It is eaten slowly, 
masticated thoroughly, and will, therefore, be more 
perfectly digested — that is, the quantity that can 
possibly be digested ; or, in other words, the amount 
suited to their needs. The amount necessary 
will be much less in this form than if shelled for 
them. Little hay (if nice, clean straw is available) 
with this feed for the horse of light work is a good 
rule. In nothing I have said have I designed to en- 
courage insufficient feeding. Every creature that is 
permitted to live should be furnished with 



y6 HORSES: 

PLENTY TO EAT AND DRINK; 

but "enough is better than a feast," and it is no kind- 
ness to dumb animals to overfeed and underwork 
them, even if we do thus serve ourselves. If we our- 
selves choose disease-producing habits, we have no 
right to make that choice for the creatures who are 
at our mercy. 

THE HORSE-OF-ALL-WORK. 

"What kind of a horse should the all-purpose 
horse be?" was asked of Colonel Coleman, of Il- 
linois, and he replied, "It should be a horse sixteen 
hands high, with good serviceable body and limbs, 
and then the more style he has the better. If he 
carries a fine head on a well-arched neck ; if he has a 
long bushy tail and an active way of going at the 
walk or the trot or the run even, all the better. 
Such a horse is large enough, and not too large. 
He is just the size for the plow or the wagon, for the 
saddle or the buggy or the carriage. He is ready and 
suitable for any job of work on the farm or off of it. 
If he is for sale his owner will find plenty of buyers. 
If he has the size and qualities spoken of, and is in 
addition trotting-bred, so much the better, for he 
will command so much the greater price. 

"The horse ' Capt. Lewis' was taken from the 
plow last spring, had never had any training, and 
trotted in 2 : 20 before the first season was over, 
and $20,000 has been refused for him. St. Julien, 
with a record of 2: n£, used to be worked on the 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET, 



77 



farm and driven in a milk wagon, and $40,000 would 
not buy him. Occident, with a record of 2:16^, 
used to be driven in a sand-cart and was most un- 
mercifully abused, and numbers of such instances 
could be given to show the value of trotting-bred an- 
cestry [and of 

PLENTY OF SOLID WORK 

to form a splendid muscular system, the Colonel 
might have added]. But if the thorough-bred 
or running- bred stallion be preferred, and has 
the size and qualities desired, use him. Have 
you never seen a model stallion or model mare, 
with size, style, and beauty that just filled the 
bill ? Secure such or breed to such and you get 
such, for ' like begets like/ Select your brood 
mares, after securing the proper stallion, ever keep- 
ing size, style, color, action, disposition, and sound- 
ness in view, and you can not make a mistake either 
in breeding farm horses, carriage horses, trotting 
horses, running horses, or pack horses. This breed- 
ing to the common scrub horses is costing the far- 
mers millions." 

TURNING HORSES TO GRASS. 

It is a popular idea that a horse kept up on a plank 
floor and fed on dry feed for a considerable time 
needs " a run to grass," and will be improved in con- 
dition by such a change, says the National Live Stock 
Journal, It is not generally sufficiently considered 
that such a change is violent ; rendered so by the 



yS HOUSES; 

sudden change from dry, nutritious food to which 
the system had become accustomed, and has done 
well on, to a surfeit of grass, which distends the di- 
gestive organs, ferments, unduly loosening the bowels, 
and taking off firm flesh which can hardly be restored 
under a month or two of careful feeding and exer- 
cising. 

Changes in the food given to farm animals, with 
proper restrictions, are proper to be made, but such 
as are made through recommendations by ignorant 
persons, no sound reasons existing for them, are not 
likely to prove beneficial. A horse is frequently 
turned out for the purpose, in the language of the 
groom, of " taking the fever out of him," while, if he 
has been properly cared for, and driven with discre- 
tion, he will have no fever in him. If he exhibits 
feverish symptoms, a day's fast, or a little less food 
and more fresh air, with more exercise in many cases, 
and less work in others, will very speedily restore the 
balance. But to administer physic, change his feed, 
or turn him out to grass, on the assumption that it is 
good for the animal to be occasionally " loosened 
up," is wrong. 

The horse-owner himself would not be likely, when 
in the best possible state of health — the digestion 
good and the muscles firm — to listen to a suggestion 
that he leave off his bread, meat, potatoes, and con- 
fine himself to greens and water for a month or two. 
This might do very well in midsummer, as a measure 
for counteracting the mischief of enforced and abso- 
lute idleness or lack of exercise ; but all such changes, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET jg 

whether in man or beast, disturb the functions, dimin- 
ish the proportion of red globules in the blood, render 
the muscular fibers flabby, that they tire soon on ex- 
ertion, overstimulate the kidneys and skin, because 
these emunctories are called upon to release from the 
system an excess of fluid, green grass being largely 
made up of water. This excessive action impairs, lets 
down below the healthy standard, and it takes time, 
feed, and care to replace wasted tissues and restore 
lost tone. 

But it is not alone the sudden change referred to 
which causes risk. The horse accustomed to a dry 
stable, protected from wet above and beneath, is 
poorly prepared to stay out in the cold rains of 
autumn, much less to lie in the wet. This exposure 
makes a greater impression than it otherwise would 
because of the change from grain to grass, the power 
of resistance being lessened in proportion as the 
blood has parted with its globules. Loss of condi- 
tion and a staring coat come from this exposure, and 
if the horse be at all susceptible to lung trouble he 
may contract this. Hence, for these reasons, the 
idea of turning a horse out to get him into condition 
is a very erroneous one. 

If, for any reason — and this should not be an imag- 
inary one — the horse is thought to require green 
food, or a change, for a time, from the habitual dry 
grain, then give him bran mashes and roots. But 
the moment this course is entered upon the system 
is weakened, the effect being precisely upon the mus- 
cles of the horse as upon the steel spring when the 



80 HORSES: 

temper is taken out. The English farmer feeds roots, 
not because of any supposed high nutritive value, as 
they are well known to be made up of three-fourths 
and over of water, but because, in the case of fatten- 
ing animals, especially cattle and sheep, roots main- 
tain, in stock confined in the stall or pen, a condition 
akin to that enjoyed while upon grass. But these 
reasons do not at all apply to the horse ; in fact, this 
is precisely what a living creature, whether man or 
beast, should avoid — only dying animals, animals, that 
is to say, designed for slaughter, and in whose cases 
the question of sound health for next year and coming- 
years does not enter into the account, are subjects 
for fattening, — for if, while kept either for work or 
speed, he is made to accumulate fat from soft or 
green food, in proportion to the fat so laid on, in that 
proportion does he part with his ability to do bodily 
labor. The less changes in his diet the better. He 
will never lack for appetite unless he gets ahead of 
his stomach ; and then give it time enough and it 
will catch up ! 

But very few know anything of the value of oil- 
cake meal for horses. Its use in fattening fine-bred 
cattle has long been common, and its value fully ap- 
preciated. The same can be said of swine, for no 
other feed will cause a pig to gain, put him in show 
condition so speedily, and give him a glossiness of 
coat not obtainable in any other way so well as linseed 
oil-cake meal. What oil-cake will do for cattle and pigs 
it will do equally well for horses. A horse appear- 
ing to be bound up, as this term is understood in the 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 8 1 

stable, can, by the use of this feed, be relieved of this 
condition as promptly as by turning out to grass, in- 
volving none of the contingencies which attend the 
latter, the full strength and vigor being maintained 
in the meantime. Nothing so quickly improves the 
coat of the horse as the use of a little oil-cake incor- 
porated with his feed, while turning out to grass in 
sun and rain fades and roughens the hair in a week's 
time. In addition to this, oil-cake loosens the bowels, 
the degree to which this is done being entirely under 
control, while the effect of a run on grass is largely a 
matter of chance. 

THE FEEDING OF ROAD HORSES. 

Efght years ago I began to practice medicine in 
the country (says " an Orange County doctor," in the 
Tribune), and was advised by my father-in-law, a phy- 
sician of thirty years' experience, to feed my horse 
but twice a day. The proposition was indignantly 
spurned ; I ate three times daily ; why should not my 
horse? At last prevailed upon, I made a trial of the 
system, and after some years' experience am more 
than satisfied. I can most heartily endorse all that 
Dr. Page wrote— in the recent article on " Horse Hy- 
giene " — and would respectfully submit the following 
rules for feeding road horses: (i) Feed as near 6 a.m. 
and 6 p.m. as possible ; or in winter at 5 P.M. if pre- 
ferred. (2) Vary your feed in kind from time to time ; 
oats, however, always being the staple. (3) Vary the 
quantity of feed according to the work. (4) Always 
shake the dust and settlings, out of your hay, and use 

4* 



82 HORSES: 

only a very moderate quantity. (5) Never drive your 
horse, if you can help it, until he has stood at least 
two hours after feeding and watering, and never feed 
or water until he has rested at least one hour. 

[It would always be safe — better, indeed — to mod- 
ify this rule in so far as to permit of a small draught of 
water, if the animal is thirsty. However hot or tired 
he may be, a little water will do good, not harm, and 
it would often be cruel to refuse it. If, however, he 
be permitted to drink his fill at such a time, he might 
take more than the organism needed ; enough to 
cause discomfort, even serious disorder.] 

Now a few comments. Rule i. Feed your horse 
in the morning all the grain he will eat clean ; that is, 
the ration that he will finish with a keen relish, day 
after day, — not what he might be inclined to swallow, 
say, to-day, but which would make him logy for the 
next six hours, or cloy him and prevent a sharp ap- 
petite for the next meal. When he has eaten it, offer 
him a little hay ; my rule is, as much as you can pack 
twice in a water-bucket. Too much hay bloats a horse 
and makes his wind short, and may produce heaves. 
Let your hay be clean ; shake out the dust and pick 
out the large weeds. After he has finished his hay 
he may be groomed and watered, and two hours after 
he has had his grain he is ready for the road. His 
food has been at least partially digested, and passed 
to credit of the blood, and thence to the muscular 
and nervous system; and instead of a load of crude 
substances to carry, he feels an invigoration of fresh 
vitality supplied to his system. Now, the horse so 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 83 

treated and driven upon the road needs no feeding 
until night ; further, he is better not fed. If your 
driving at noon or near it offers an intermission, put 
him in the stable, take off the harness and let him 
stand an hour. Then offer him water, and in an hour 
again rub him off, harness, and drive on. 

Rule 2. We prefer oats as a basis. In winter a 
little corn with it, perhaps, and sometimes a little 
wheat bran. In winter corn and oats ground to- 
gether — no rye — or a little flaxseed meal with oats is 
excellent. Ground feed (corn, oats, and rye) makes 
fat on the ribs especially, and produces less muscle 
than oats. 

Rule 3. If you jog your horse six miles a day, he 
does not need half the feed he will if you push him 
hard forty or fifty miles, as I frequently do. I feed 
eight quarts every day, ten if the trips are very 
many, and twelve or sixteen if the trips are many and 
long. Finally, let him rest at night before you feed 
him, at least one hour. And if he is very weary a 
two-hours rest is better; then water and feed. I 
prefer my night feed to exceed by a trifle that of the 
morning. This regimen prevents all possibility of 
foundering, and the horse has a better appetite. 

I. W. Horton, truckman for the agricultural imple- 
ment house of R. H. Allen & Co., Water Street, 
New York City, found a good deal of trouble, 
delay, and loss, as do all truckmen, occasioned by 
the noon feed. The teams would not only lose 
an hour during the best part of the day, but, by 
losing their places in the line during a rush at the 



84 HORSES: 

wharves, etc., there was a further and often great loss. 
Besides, over and abov^e the unpreventable delay, it 
gave plenty of opportunity for dishonest loafing : the 
excuse, " Had to wait my turn/' was always in order, 
and there was no way of questioning it. A noted 
horseman suggested the two-meal system, saying : 
" It is always safe ; your horses will stand their work 
better by leaving out the noon meal, and you will 
avoid all unnecessary loss of time. It is just the rem- 
edy you require ; and, moreover, will prevent disease." 
The plan was tried and found to work admirably. The 
best-conditioned animals maintained their condition, 
the others gained up under the treatment, and there 
were none to complain, except such of the men as 
wanted an opportunity to shirk. Of course, when 
truck teams have -abundant rest, at odd times, dur- 
ing the day, they have no occasion for rest at any 
special hour when work is " rushing." In any event 
the rest, at noon, when horses are actually tired, is 
far better than a feed, for reasons heretofore given, 
and which must be self-evident to all expert physiol- 
ogists, certainly evident to all observing men who 
have given the subject any special thought in connec- 
tion with even a brief trial. 

In summer, especially, this rule should be applied, 
to prevent all danger of exhaustion, or so-called sun- 
stroke. 

DIET OF TRAM-WAY HORSES. 

" It takes a tough horse to stand horse-car service/' 
said the head man at the Third Avenue Horse R.R. 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 85 

Company's stables. The feed here is eight pounds of 
hay and seventeen and a half pounds of corn and oat- 
meal, or between seven and eight quarts, the meal 
mixed with the cut and wet hay. These animals are, 
to be sure, fed three times a day ; but the head man 
acknowledged that it is impossible, under the three- 
meal-a-day system, to avoid feeding when the animals 
are neither heated nor soon to be put to their hard 
work, though such avoidance would be a great ad- 
vantage. The proposed system would solve this 
problem. But a suggestion to that effect elicited 
from the kind-hearted overseer the rejoinder: "A 
horse wants feeding as often as a man ! " True 
enough ; but here comes in the fact that hundreds of 
thousands of men — workers, too, not drones — have, 
for preventive or curative purposes, adopted the two- 
meal plan, and the sufficiency of this regimen has 
never been disproved. Many, indeed, have been 
forced to feed .themselves thus, in order to enable 
them to continue their arduous labors. It is not 
w T hat any creature swallows, but what he digests and 
assimilates, that sustains him. 

It must be remembered that the horse and the 
man, although constituted very much alike, so far as 
their needs are concerned, speaking with regard to 
food, differ widely in their mental and emotional or- 
ganizations. One has appetite only ; the other appe- 
tite and reason— perhaps. A horse, jogging along the 
road, or working at the plow, will not have a mind 
occupied with visions of a dinner " on time/' He be- 
comes thirsty, as does his driver, and at sight of water 



86 HORSES: 

evinces a strong inclination for a draught. So, too, 
at the sight of food, he, like the man, will exhibit his 
desire for a lunch, in season or out — that is, for a little 
palate-tickling, whether food be needed or not. If 
his habit is to eat three meals, he will take four, and, if 
it is presented, take the second three hours after the 
first, instead of saying, like a man, " No, thank you, 
it isn't my time ! " Thousands of us have learned 
from experience that we enjoy more, and are better 
nourished by waiting full time. But as the "time" 
draws near, we begin to think about it, and thus 
work up an appetite, times without number, for a 
dinner which we do not need, but which is certain 
to make us feel uncomfortable. We find that thou- 
sands of men have adopted the two-meal, hundreds, 
indeed, the one-meal-a-day system, and find a great 
advantage in so doing. The principle that a man 
may adopt, from knowledge and conviction in the 
matter of his own diet, he may also extend to his 
horse; the latter does not require the convincement 
of his reason or intellect in the premises, but readily 
accepts his needed food in four, three, or two install- 
ments. In either case he will (on the four, as well as 
on the two-meal plan) accept a lunch at any hour, un- 
less he has, from excess or some other cause, become 
" off his feed." But, given enough (and this he 
should always have, to be sure), he will thrive and 
enjoy all that his nature makes possible. Give him 
too much (whether at two or more meals) and he 
must suffer for it. He can digest as much on the 
two-meal plan as on the three. Just as he can accom- 



THEIR FEED AND THETR FEET. 87 

plish as much labor in a year, working ten hours a day, 
as he can by working fifteen, probably more. He can 
digest as much food as he needs and no more. What- 
ever the number of his meals, he can not assimilate 
any more than his system requires for the work he 
performs. Hence, it becomes a matter of the owner's 
judgment as to when and how often. Whoever tries 
this plan on himself, or on his horse, will not fail to 
be convinced of its sufficiency not only, but, as before 
remarked, of its advantages over any other system. 
For horses that work hard throughout the entire day, 
I repeat that the noon feed is altogether unphysio- 
logical. It is especially dangerous in summer. The 
time, however short, spent in eating, if devoted en- 
tirely to rest would do good. The food counteracts 
the advantages of the rest, and generates heat. A 
man who gives such a mid-day meal and then places 
a double-deck sun-shade on the top of his horse's 
head to prevent " sunstroke," may think he is doing 
the proper thing ; but u it would make a horse laugh " 
if he knew what the thing was put there for ! 

MR. PLANT'S TESTIMONY. 

Mr. T. J. Plant, at present assistant Superintendent 
at the American Express Co.'s Stables, 48th Street 
and Lexington Avenue, affirms that for fourteen years 
he drove express teams, feeding his horses but twice 
a day. " There was no time to feed at noon," he ex- 
plained. The work was pretty sharp driving, none 
of our wagons were light, and the hours were long, 



88 HORSES: 

" but our horses kept in splendid condition all the 
time," 

ANOTHER CASE. 

Another young man, driver of an express team 
(rather an " unwilling witness," since he. " didn't be 
lieve in the two-meal plan,") told me that he was once 
connected with a firm using over thirty horses that, 
as they learned subsequently, were cheated out of 
the dinners that were bargained and paid for. " We 
never could get one o' them hosses fat," said he. 
" They always looked lank during the day." " How 
were they ' on the muscle ' ? " I asked. " Well, you 
bet they never went back on us that way. They al- 
ways acted spirited, and could pull anything they 
were hitched to!" "Were they ever sick?" I in- 
quired. " No, it is a fact, that we didn't have a sick 
hoss all summer long, not even off his feed for a day ! " * 
As every one knows, it is quite unusual for that num- 
ber of horses to pass an entire season without a case 
of sickness. For example : At the stable referred to 
on page 92, I asked, " Have you other sick horses ? " 
" Oh, yes, quite a number. There are always some, — 
colds, coughs, catarrhal fevers, off their feed, etc." To 
this the doctor made answer : " The best remedy for 
a horse that don't want to eat is to hitch him in a 
clean stall, — have no bedding, even — and let him wait 
till he will eat hay sharp. Then go slow with your 
feed ! " 

We find, from visiting a large number of 



* They were well fed morning and night at home. 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 89 

FIRST-CLASS STABLES, 

both private and boarding — including Mr. Vander- 
bilt's, Mr. Bonner's, and Mr. Work's, that it is the 
invariable rule to feed hay* only at night, — generally 
at 5 or 6 o'clock, and from 6 to 8 lbs., according to 
the size of the animal, and the work : the harder the 
work the less hay, usually. 

For grain, oats is the standard ; in fact almost the 
exclusive feed. The daily ration is about the same, 
nominally, in all the stables visited, viz.: " Nine to 
twelve quarts, according to the work." But in al- 
most every instance, we found that a " dose " of 
some kind, once or twice? generally twice, a week w r as 
deemed necessary, "to keep 'em cleared out," "to 
cool their bowels," " to prevent 'em from getting 
clogged up," "or else they'd get constipated," etc., 
etc., proving, as it seems to me, conclusively, that the 
diet exceeds the needs of the organism, or, in other 
words, that the sound old physiological mandate, viz., 
" In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," is 
constantly and well-nigh universally violated ! 

THE ETERNAL MASH. 

True, the " dose " referred to above is oftener than 
otherwise a mash; but what is a "'mash"? Why, 
practically, what our best physiologists and hygienists 
are now sounding the alarm against, viz. : unmasti- 
cated and unmasticable food ! At this time, when 



* Stage and railway horses are fed cut hay with meal three times 
a day. We believe that this custom might be improved upon. 



go 



HORSES: 



our soundest dietitians, among whom Dr. Oswald 
takes first rank, are warning the people against the 
soft-food-and-slops nuisance (more especially for the 
sick or ailing), and pointing to the better fed animals, 
as the horse, for example, that chews the dry grain, 
and thus accomplishes the only real mastication such 
as the starchy foods demand on pain of indigestion, — 
surely at such a time it would seem unwise in the 
extreme to carry this most unnatural practice into 
the stable, or to continue it if already there ! When 
a horse is not in condition to take a natural diet — i.e., 
to chew his own food and to warm and moisten it 
naturally — prepared food of any sort -will do him harm 
and not good. The stomach can not do the work of 
the mouth, nor, indeed, its own, when the first neglect 
has been suffered. 

AT MR. BONNER'S STABLES 

we ascertained that this noted horse fancier's animals, 
when doing fair work, received nine quarts of oats 
daily, three quarts at a feed. On any day, or succes- 
sion of days, that an animal is not well-exercised, the 
night feed of oats is omitted. The total feed of hay is 
about 6 lbs., and is given about 5 : 30 P.M. The grain 
follows at 7 P.M. 

Mr. Bonner's horses are watered before, not after 
eating. 

The only criticism we have to offer in this connec- 
tion is, that the fine condition of these animals would 
be maintained with less inconvenience, less occasion 
for special care during " working hours " — that is, dur- 



THEIR TEED AND THEIR FEET. 91 

ing the entire day, when a horse is liable to be called 
upon at any moment for a sharp drive — by feeding- 
only morning and night. Then he may be speeded 
at any hour without danger. 
While at . 

MR. BELLINGER'S STABLE 

a boarder drove in, just from the Fleetwood races, 
having driven his mare the nine miles at a pretty 
sharp pace. The hour was 12:15 P.M. " Give her 
two quarts of oats," said he — " no more, — and let her 
breathe first. No water ! " Now, this was a small 
feed, of course, but w r e think the gentleman made a 
mistake, since he directed the mare to be ready " on 
the floor at 1:15" (just one hour), for the return 
drive to Fleetwood. A few swallows of water imme- 
diately, and more half an hour later, with no grain at 
all, would surely have put the mare in the best pos- 
sible condition for any amount of work during the 
afternoon. 

AT MR. FRANK WORK'S STABLE 

it was found that the usual winter diet was about six 
quarts of oats daily, which is less by three quarts 
than the summer feed. Mr. Curley, the polite and 
efficient head man, holds very sensible views upon 
feeding : " In summer, the horses are out of the stable 
more, do a good deal more work, sweat more, etc., 
and require more food." In the winter, on the other 
hand, with light work, and in warm stables, there is 
less waste, and, of course, less food can be digested. 



92 HORSES: 

AT SIXTH AVENUE HORSE-RAILROAD STABLES. 

" Twenty-one pounds mixed feed a day is our feed, 
in summer; in winter, more,"* said the brusque but 
polite manager. " Fourteen lbs. oatmeal and 7 lbs. 
hay. In winter, we use corn and oats." 

THE VETERINARY PRACTICE OF TO-DAY 

corresponds very closely to the medical practice of 
one hundred years ago. Then bleeding was constantly 
resorted to in fevers, and, indeed, for most anything. 
There are still some doctors who practice it, but only 
the most ignorant, and in remote districts. But to-day 
this infamous practice is current, even in our largest 
cities, in the treatment of horses ! I could hardly 
have credited this had I not myself seen a case in one 
of the largest stables in New York City. The veteri- 
nary surgeon in question is in regular practice, a really 
bright man, and under proper instruction would make 
his mark in the world. Yet I witnessed him perform 
two of the most barbarous operations upon a foun- 
dered horse, and when the depleting effects were 
plainly exhibited, he pointed to them with pride, as 
being " just what he aimed to accomplish ! " It was 
just what he no doubt did accomplish every time. 
The history of the case, fully bearing out all that I 
have said about " soft " and " ill-conditioned " horses 
was this : The horse was a noble young fellow, a 
green one from the West, purchased from one of the 



* These horses, unlike those in private stables," work as many 
hours, and have even harder work in winter than in summer. 



THEIR FEED AXD THEIR FEET. 93 

best-known sale stables in this city. Fat as butter, he 
was taken to- his new home, one of the largest and 
best stables in New York City. There they were 
afraid to put him directly at steady w r ork, but they were 
not afraid to feed him ! Although designing to feed 
rather light as compared with their old, hard-working 
horses, they still managed to founder him with food. 
The veterinary was called in (from the sale stable), 
and I witnessed the treatment. With every feeling 
of respect for the gentleman's good intentions and 
his more than average natural ability, combined with 
a pleasing manner, yet»had the law and the customs 
of the country permitted, I would have arrested him 
for cruelty to animals. Aye, I would have fought 
then and there to prevent the abuse I witnessed. 
First,, he lanced both arms, from which a smart fount- 
ain of the best blood the poor fellow had poured 
out in rapid streams for a sufficient time to fill, ac- 
cording to my best judgment, a three-quart pail from 
each wound. The professor next made an incision 
in the skin near the top of the shoulder-blade, and 
then proceeded to raise the skin by pinching each 
side of the slit, and lifting the skin so as to cause the 
space to fill with air, which mechanically-raised blister 
he pressed along downward and forward, following 
with another and another, until some scores of such 
had inflated the whole left breast, and up the shoulder 
toward the slit. Then he treated the other side in 
the same manner. There was then a complete blister 
over the entire chest and far up the shoulders ; and 
all this as a " counter-irritant ! " Soon, from the 



94 HORSES: 

effects of the bleeding, the poor dumb creature began 
to sweat. First a few drops oozed out; and dropped 
down from between the hind legs, then all along the 
belly, then a shower, whilst the trembling and work- 
ing within and about the flank and abdomen were 
enough to indicate the condition of suffering. He 
was placed in a box stall, where he immediately laid 
down. The eyes, which were bright when he was led 
out, were now dim. I stroked his head, and he turned 
it toward me as if he knew, and wished to attest his 
appreciation of my feelings toward him. I left him 
when the poisoning began. As if mashing, purging, 
bleeding, and blistering were not enough ! No, not 
enough ! He must have some aconite thrust down 
his throat. The tub of cold water to stand in was 
the only really rational feature of the treatment in 
this case. 

I have elsewhere given the general line of treat- 
ment for founder. I will conclude this by stating 
what should have been omitted in this treatment : 
He should not have been fed to make blood to be let 
out by the pailful. If not fed the purging would not 
have even seemed necessary. If he had not had 
mashes he would have had less fever (his tempera- 
ture was ioi^-° F.), and under hygienic treatment the 
fever would soon have left him altogether. Every- 
thing, except the tub of cold water for the feet, that 
was done was so much to the bad. Fifty years hence 
a veterinarian who should attempt to abuse a horse 
in the manner I have described would — not be shot at 
sight, because the world is steadily becoming more 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 95 

charitable as it grows more enlightened, and so more 
dispassionate in its treatment of the ignorant or vic- 
ious ; but such a man would be prosecuted for mal- 
practice and turned out of the profession. Yet, to- 
day, I am forced to believe that this gentleman fairly 
represents the profession. Had this horse, fat as he 
was, been put, as soon as purchased, to steady work, 
and on a plain, natural diet, restricted to two meals 
and to an amount, altogether, that would have sus- 
tained him while the soft fat was being absorbed and 
cast off, and the muscles being made clean and full ; 
had he been worked every day from the beginning, 
not beyond, but up to his strength, the latter would 
have increased every day and he would have been 
made over new, just as in the case described on page 
24, without the least danger of founder. 

Of course it is not to be imagined that a purge, a 
blister, the loss of a few quarts of blood, and the ad- 
ministration of a 15-drop dose of aconite — however 
depleting, however cruel — would end the life of a 
young horse that was " fit to survive ! " Far from it. 
And so, three days afterward, this horse had appar- 
ently made good his loss. But it was a loss, all the 
same ; a loss without the shadow of a gain, unless we 
put a value on the amusement afforded to the igno- 
rant stable boys, and their wonder at the marvelous 
skill displayed by the veterinary surgeon, especially 
in making the patient full-breasted with an air- 
blister ! 



96 HORSES; 

EATING THE BEDDING 

is a very common complaint in all stables where any 
food substance is used for bedding. Few horses are 
sufficiently aristocratic to permit even musty hay or 
straw to lie within reach uneaten, unless the appetite 
has become less than perfect from excess. The " muz- 
zle" has its uses in some of the finest horse palaces. 
It should be used upon occasion ; but it is better to 
use bedding that is even less tempting than hay or 
straw that smells as bad as some brands of cheese 
that are in favor with certain gormands. 

RULES THAT MAY BE SAFELY TRIED. 

1. The diet for a road horse of 900 to 1,000 lbs. 
weight, averaging thirty miles, to wagon, every day 
in the week, and often pushed hard fifty to sixty miles 
or more in a day, would be 6 lbs. of hay and 9 qts. 
of oats, or, say, 6 to 12 qts., according to his work. 
If he be called on for fifty to sixty miles every day 
for any length of time, he might require 14 to 16 
qts. of oats every day, with only a very small bunch 
of hay, say 4 to 6 lbs. For a 1,500 lb. horse, at 
moderate, but steady work, ten hours a day, six days 
in the week, 10 lbs. of hay and 8 qts. of oats (or 4 qts. 
corn and 2 qts. of oats) would probably be sufficient 
(see pages 65, 66, 67, 81, 82, 83). 

2. Always increase the diet on the day folloiving 
the extra hard drive — never on the day preceding, 
nor the very day : it is to-day s extra waste of tissue 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



97 



that furnishes the digestive fluids for extra grain to- 
morrow. 

3. The hay ration should not be increased with in- 
creased labor — only the grain. Indeed, in case of ex- 
traordinary exertion, covering several days in succes- 
sion, especially when the usual hay ration is a heavy 
one, the hay may be, and often with advantage, 
lessened. 

4. Night Feed. — Feed all the hay at night, say at 6 
o'clock for horses not regularly worked until that 
hour or later, or feed hay an hour after coming to 
stable. Meantime offer water before the hay. In an- 
other hour feed the grain. If thirsty after eating 
hay, the horse should have a little water, then grain. 
After this the horse will satisfy his appetite with the 
balance of the hay, lie down and sleep the sleep of the 
just. 

5. It is always safe to try two meals a day, and in 
proportion as a horse's work is constant and severe 
throughout the day this system is rendered more and 
more essential, for this reason, viz. : the horse of light 
work will have ample time to digest a mid-day lunch 
and it is a matter of comparative indifference whether 
his proper allowance is divided into two or three por- 
tions. But in the case first supposed, a middle meal 
is impossible without a violation of the rule which 
most persons agree in considering desirable, and 
which we hold to be imperative, viz. : the rule relat- 
ing to rest before and after eating. 

6. Referring to rule 1, it may be remarked that, in 
proportion as the work is lessened, the hay ration 

5 



98 HORSES: 

may be increased and the grain lessened ; or, straw 
used, in part, in place of hay ; or, again, meal with 
the cob ground in. 

7. If 200 miles of sharp roading, weekly, demand 9 
qts. of oats a day, 4 qts. would be ample for a horse 
jogging ten miles a day. If the latter have an extra 
day's work of, say, twenty-five to forty miles, he 
might be benefited by, say, 4 qts. of oats extra on the 
succeeding day. If fat, no increase would be de- 
manded; he would be better without. 

8. Thirst. — Of the two appetites, thirst is the least 
apt to be abnormal, and hence the safest to satisfy. 
Except when heated, and speaking generally, a horse 
should drink as often and as much as he wants. If 
not overfed he will not be overthirsty. However 
hot, a little water should always be allowed ; then, 
after a fair interval, more, and, at last, all he wants. 
No demand is so imperative, none causes so much 
pain and danger from being denied, as the demand 
for liquid food — water. A horse would continue to 
live, and without suffering pain, for many days with- 
out solid food, but not without drink. 

9. Constipation — u e., the accumulation of fcecal 
matters, that harden and are passed with difficulty — 
indicates indigestion. It may arise from (1) deficient 
exercise, as relates to quantity of food, or (2) a viola- 
tion of the rule we hive so urgently put forth ; that 
is, the horse may have been often driven on a " full 
belly," or fed too soon after his drive. 

10. A horse that was being underfed, might have 
very little pass his bowels — nothing, if he was being 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



99 



starved — but this is not what is meant by " constipa- 
tion." If persistently underfed, he will steadily fall 
off in weight — emaciate — never remain at a stand- 
still. Mr. John Griscomb, of Chicago (outdoing Dr. 
Tanner the year after the latter's fast), during his 
forty-five days' fast, had no passage at the bowels at 
all. He declined *in weight at the rate of one and 
one-fourth pounds a day ; that is, he consumed that 
amount of his own flesh. He suffered no pain, felt 
no weakness, was quite active every day. He drank 
about one and one-half quarts of water daily. 

ii. Never " dose " a horse, with medicine, or 
mashes, hot or cold, to get the fever out of him, nor 
for any special purpose, whatever. 

12. If constipated, give him more work or less feed ; 
or correct the manner of feeding, if wrong. 

13. If he "scours," (always a symptom of indiges- 
tion), skip a meal, or two if necessary, allowing all the 
drink he wants. This is always safe on an empty 
stomach and when not heated with work. 

14. \{ feverish, allow plenty of water, plenty of air, 
but no food — none at all. 

15. "If off. his feed, let starvation be the cure," to 
use the language of a veteran. " Any creature will 
come to his appetite sooner, and with less loss of 
flesh, by this means," he continues, "than by any sort 
of medication or nursing." 

HOW TO ARRANGE THE CHECK-iREIN. 

If horses could only talk, and then if all men could 
feel, few check-reins would be used. See that hand- 



100 HORSES: 

some fellow — how he tries to ease an aching neck! 
Hitch, hitch, hitch, first to one side, then the other ; 
then up he tosses his head for a change, then sharp 
down upon the bit. He is talking, and every 
thoughtful observer knows that the noble creat- 
ure is saying, " Will you please unhook the 
check-rein?" There, now, watch him. How he 
stretches out his neck to get the cramps out of it ! 
How good it feels. He rubs his face against you. 
It is his way of saying, " Thank you — no one knows, 
unless he has himself been strung up that way, how 
very painful it becomes ! " Try it, my friend, and 
see how it is yourself, to use a current phrase. 
" Don't check your horses very high ? " But why at 
all? Keep them in fine condition, so that they will 
feel good all the time and they will carry their heads 
right — at least naturally. Some horses are naturally 
high-headed. But you can't make one so by string- 
ing him up. Every one can tell whether a horse is 
strung up by the bit ; and every kind-hearted person 
pities him, if he is. Oh, take it off — don't wait a day. 

A WORD ABOUT THE BLINDERS. 

Take off the blinders, too ; give a horse his eyes 
and he gets accustomed to all manner of sights and 
nothing troubles him. Withhold them and, half 
blind, he is constantly nervous — fearful of something 
that would not disturb him in the least if he could 
see it. That is, if he is a nervous fellow ; if not, then 
there is no excuse for the blinders. 



INTRODUCTION TO PART II. 



The author regrets his inability to add his own 
personal testimony to the following paper, written 
by Sir George W. Cox, of England, feeling, indeed, a 
sense of shame, not because anything he might say 
could add one whit of weight to what is so well put 
forth (and so ably commented upon by Col. Weld), 
but, to think that he has up to the present time made 
one of the million who so cruelly, constantly, thought- 
lessly, and needlessly abused this noblest of animals, 
the horse ! The abuse is rendered a thousand-fold 
worse in that, generally speaking, the poor creatures 
are at the mercy of a class — I had almost said a race 
— of people as willful as they are ignorant — the class 
of whom it was said by an exceptional one of the 
fraternity : " Generally, when there is a boy in the 
family who is too big a fool for anything else, his 
father makes a blacksmith of him ! " 

C. E. P. 



(ioi) 



HORSES AND THEIR FEET. 

BY SIR GEO. W. COX. 

If we say that of all brute animals none is more 
valuable to man than the horse, and that the neglect 
of any means which may promote and ensure his 
welfare and efficiency is a blunder not easily distin- 
guishable from crime, we may fairly be charged with 
uttering truisms. If we urge that this value is not 
recognized as it should be, and that this neglect is 
miserably common, we may still be accused of wasting 
breath on statements w T hich no one would think of 
calling into question. Every one, we may be told, 
is well aware that the management of horses is very 
faulty, that their lives are shortened by the ignorance 
of those who have charge of them rather than by 
any wanton cruelty, and that they are rendered prac- 
tically useless long before their existence is brought 
to an end. To the plea that the same, or much the 
same, things may be said of men as of horses, we 
may answer that the blame must be apportioned to 
the degree of carelessness with which evils affecting 
either men or horses are allowed to go on unchecked 
or are foolishly dealt with ; nor can failures to im- 
prove the condition of mankind furnish a reason for 

(103) 



I0 4 HORSES: 

refusing to do what may improve the condition of 
horses. Our duty ought to be discharged at all costs 
and under all circumstances ; but a man must have 
risen far above the average of his fellows if he feels 
no relief when his duty coincides with his interest. 
Something is gained by the mere pointing out of this 
agreement, wherever it exists ; and we must remem- 
ber that, if a vast amount of human wretchedness is 
the direct result of willful and wanton perversity, we 
can meet with no such resistance on the part of brute 
beasts. With regard to these we have only to see 
what the evils are ; and the blame is ours, and ours 
alone, if we fail to apply the remedy, when the 
remedy, if applied, must be successful. In the case 
of the horse, unhappily, we do not realize the extent 
of the mischief, and seldom, perhaps never, fix our 
minds on its cause or causes. Yet the facts, even 
when reduced within limits which none will venture 
to dispute, are sufficiently startling. 

The number of horses in the United Kingdom has 
been estimated at rather more than two millions 
and a quarter, and their average value can scarce- 
ly be set down at less than £$o. Their collect- 
ive value, therefore, falls little short of sixty-eight 
million sterling. That the nation incurs a loss if this 
sum is spent quicker than it needs to be is a self-evi- 
dent proposition ; that it is so spent is certain, if 
horses on an average become useless at a time when 
they ought still to be in full vigor. On this point 
few will be disposed to challenge the verdict of Mr. 
W. Douglas, late veterinary surgeon in the 10th 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 105 

Hussars, who tells us that a horse should live from 
thirty-five to forty years, and live actively and, usefully 
during three-fourths of this period. " All author- 
ities," he says, " now admit that animals should live 
five times as long as it takes them to reach maturity. 
A dog, which is at its full growth when between two 
and three years old, is very aged at twelve years. 
Horses do not, unless their growth is forced, reach 
their full prime until they are seven or eight years 
old, which by the same law leaves them to live some 
thirty years longer. When these facts are kept in 
mind, together with these other facts that three- 
fourths of our horses die or are destroyed under 
twelve years old, that horses are termed aged at six M 
[he should have said eight], " old at ten, very old 
when double that number of years, and that few of 
them but are laid up from work a dozen times a year, 
.... the viciousness of a system which entails such 
misery and destruction of life can not be too strongly 
commented upon." If we take the age of three 
years as that at which horses begin to work, and 
twelve as that at which they are worn out, it follows 
that the period of their efficiency is shorter by at 
least fourteen years than it should be. in other 
words, the nation has to buy three horses when it 
ought to buy only one, and thus upwards of £200,000,- 
000 are spent every twenty-one years in the purchase 
of horses when £68,000,000 ought to suffice. The 
loss, therefore, to the nation is at least £135,000,000 
in twenty-one years. 

If this were all, the question would surely be most 
5* 



106 HORSES: 

serious ; but it is not all. Unless the facts thus far 
stated can be set aside, our horses work on the aver- 
age seven or eight years ; but how do they work ? 
The collective experience of the country will answer 
that the work is done at the cost of frequent inter- 
ruption, and with an amount of discomfort and pain 
which often becomes agony. It is easy to say that 
much of the evil must be laid to the charge of 
grooms and stable-men; and perhaps the censures 
dealt out to these men are not undeserved. They 
are, at least, outspoken. In the last century Lord 
Pembroke spoke of grooms as being " generally the 
worst informed of all persons living." " No other serv- 
ant/' says Mr. Mayhew, " possesses such power, and 
no domestic more abuses his position. It is impossi- 
ble to amend the regulation of any modern stable 
without removing some of this calling, or overthrow- 
ing some of the abuses with a perpetuation of which 
the stable servant is directly involved. " In this state 
of things the most humane of masters becomes, he 
adds, an unconscious tyrant to the brute which serves 
him so well. It is a miserable fact that grooms on 
their own responsibility are in the habit of adminis- 
tering secretly to horses medicines the cost of which 
they pay themselves. It may fairly be said that in 
every case the remedy is ill-judged, and creates worse 
mischief than that which it is designed to remove. 
Among these medicines arsenic, antimony, and niter 
seem to be the favorites, but the list of remedies is 
not ended with these. The experience of ages, if it 
has failed to do more, has impressed on them the fact 



THEIR FEED AXD THEIR FEET. 



107 



that the chief source of the sufferings of horses is to be 
found in the foot. The suspicion that the foot is not 
treated rightly by the traditionary method never 
enters their minds ; and they deal with the limb not 
from a knowledge of its anatomy, structure, and pur- 
pose, but in accordance with the popular notions, 
which are, in plain speech, outrageously absurd. In 
profound ignorance that the hoof is porous, they 
apply hoof-ointments, which answer to cement plas- 
tered on a wall. If these were in constant use, Mr. 
Douglas asserts emphatically that not a morsel of 
sound horn would remain at the end of six months, 
on the horses, and shoeing would become an impossi- 
bility. If the groom be told that he is thus prevent- 
ing the internal moisture from reaching the outer 
surface and the air from circulating inwards, his only 
answer is an incredulous laugh. His conviction is 
that the hoof should not come into contact with hard 
material, and that the horse can be best fitted for his 
work by having his feet smeared with tar, beeswax, or 
tallow, and by resting always on a heap of litter in 
the stable. It would be of little use to cite Lord 
Pembroke as declaring that " the constant use of 
litter makes the feet tender and causes swelled legs ; 
moreover, it renders the animal delicate. Swelled 
legs may be frequently reduced to their proper natural 
size by taking away the litter only, which, in some 
stables, where ignorant grooms and farriers govern, 
would be a great saving of bleeding and physic, 
besides straw." " I have seen," he adds, " by repeated 
experiments, legs swell and unswell by leaving litter 



108 HORSES: 

or taking it away, like mercury in a weather-glass "; 
and his experience is confirmed by the general con- 
dition of troopers' horses in contrast with those 
of their officers, which are bedded down all day. 

But if there are evils for which grooms are, in large 
measure, directly responsible, and the abolition of 
which they would beyond doubt stoutly resist, there 
are others in which masters are not less blameworthy 
than their men, and from which the public generally, 
as well as the animals, are constant sufferers. The 
work of the horse is that of dragging and carrying, 
and the aim of the owner 'should be the accomplish- 
ment of this work with the utmost possible sureness 
and with the fewest accidents. Serious and fatal in- 
juries may be the result of stumblings and slippings, 
not less than of actual falls; and the premature wear- 
ing out of horses by excessive straining of their 
sinews and muscles is a direct pecuniary loss to the 
owners, although few of them seem to realize the 
true significance of the fact. These evils are to be 
seen everywhere, and they affect horses kept for the 
purpose of pleasure and ostentation almost as much 
as those which spend their days in a round of monot- 
onous drudgery. A horse should not be obliged to 
work in going down a hill, but, in fact, they are sub- 
ject to the severest strain just when they ought to 
have none, if they are harnessed to springless carts 
or wagons without brakes. Farm horses suffer with 
terrible severity from this cause, but the horses used 
in carrying-trades and by railway companies undergo 
a more cruel ordeal. Improvements in the brake- 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 109 

power of wagons used on roads, which might greatly 
lessen the mischief, are not made, and hence the 
horses are seld'om free from diseases more or less serious 
which may be traced directly to constant slipping and 
shaking over slippery pavements. Among ignorant 
owners, blind to their own interests, there is an 
impression that " the work which kills one horse will 
bring in money enough to buy another "; but expe- 
rience has sufficiently shown the fallacy of this theory, 
whether the overtaxed slave be a horse or a human 
being. In towns and cities, the roads are and must 
be paved, and the pavings at present are variously of 
stone, wood, or asphalt, where the road is not macad- 
amized. These pavements have, it would seem, each 
its own peculiar dangers for the horses which use them, 
and each has thus become a fruitful source of contro- 
versy. If any one method be likely to supersede the 
rest, the victory will probably be for the asphalt ; but 
horses are found to slip seriously upon it, and the 
falls so caused are, we are told, of a graver kind than 
those on pavements of other sorts. All the propri- 
etors of cabs, omnibuses, and railway vans have, it is 
said, protested in a body against its use, but scarcely, 
it would seem, to good purpose. Fresh contracts 
have been signed for pavements of asphalt, and others 
will probably follow. In the meanwhile horses have 
to pass, perhaps in a single morning, from macadam- 
ized roads to roads paved with asphalt, w r ood, or 
stone — in other words, over roads made of widely 
different materials, which call in each case for a differ- 
ent action of the foot. On the other hand the hoof 



HO HORSES: 

is supposed to be protected by shoes, the varieties of 
which are legion ; and thus the controversy has been 
brought to a singular issue. On one side it is urged 
that there should be a uniform system of paving 
enforced on all towns, so that horses should no longer 
pass from a less slippery road to one that is more slip- 
pery ; on the other the contention is that the true 
remedy lies not in uniformity of paving, but in the 
discovery of a shoe which shall effectually prevent 
the horse from slipping anywhere. The former alter- 
native is visionary ; the latter has been, and perhaps 
it may be said, still is, the object aimed at by some 
who have a thorough acquaintance with the structure 
of the horse, and the most disinterested wish to pro- 
mote his welfare. We may, therefore, safely pay no 
heed to the lamentations of those who believe that 
" the difficulty in riding or driving through the Lon- 
don streets arises from the variety of the pavements 
in use," and that "if we had a uniform kind of pave- 
ment, a shoe for universal use would be quickly 
invented." We may please ourselves with fancying 
that " the ingenuity of man would devise horseshoes 
to travel over glass, were glass the only pavement in 
use." The main question is, whether mankind after 
all has not been forestalled in this invention ; and it 
is absolutely certain that those who have labored 
most conscientiously to improve the shoeing of horses, 
have striven especially to secure for them the power 
of moving safely over materials of many kinds. 
These men have been convinced that the traditional 
methods overload the foot of the horse with iron, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 1 1 1 

and that the modes of fastening on this iron interfere 
with, if not altogether obstruct, the processes of 
nature. The efforts of all have been directed toward 
diminishing the weight of iron, and this has led them 
to the conclusion that the less the natural foot is in- 
terfered with the better. M. la Fosse thus inferred 
that one-half of the ordinary shoe was unnecessary, and 
that nothing more was needed than a tip on the front 
half of the foot. Unfortunately he directed that the 
heel should be pared, thus making .it weaker, and he 
fastened on his tip, which had about six inches of 
iron in its entire length, with eight nails. He was 
thus " inserting wedges, amounting in the aggregate 
to from one to one and a half inches in thickness, in 
six inches of horn, thus squeezing it into the space of 
five or even four inches, and killing it from the 
clenches downwards and outwards/' It is strange that 
veterinary surgeons, who have clearly comprehended 
the mischief thus caused, have failed to draw the 
logical inference from their premises. Mr. Douglas 
was aware that the crust of the horse's foot re- 
sembles in its natural state a numbsr of small tubes, 
bound together by a hardened, glue-like substance, 
and he compares it to a mitrailleuse gun with its many 
barrels soldered together. By his way of nailing, M. 
la Fosse was reducing the size of each tube by one- 
sixth, or rather was entirely closing those nearest the 
nails, and compressing those that lie half-way between 
each pair of nails. He was, in this respect, aggravat- 
ing the mischief of the ordinary shoe, which com- 
monly has seven nails, and this ensured dryness and 



112 HORSES: 

brittleness of hoof. But the circulation of fluid 
through the pores of the hoof is not the only natural 
process which modern shoeing interferes with. In 
his work on the horse's foot, Mr. Miles illustrates the 
expansion and contraction, which always take place 
in its natural state when it is set down on and lifted 
from the ground. The subject was a horse nine years 
old, which had the shoe removed for the purpose of 
the experiment. "The unshod foot was lifted up, 
and its contour traced with the greatest precision on 
a piece of board covered with paper. A similar 
board was then laid on the ground, the same foot was 
then placed upon it, and the opposite foot held up 
whilst it was again traced. The result was that it had 
expanded one-eighth part of an inch at the heel and 
quarters. " Over two inches on each side of the center 
of the toe no expansion had taken place, the tracings 
showing that the expansion was only lateral. It 
would follow that a shoe intended to give full play to 
this process must be confined to the part where no 
expansion takes place ; but Mr. Miles adhered to the 
form of the ordinary shoe, although he reduced to 
three the number of nails by which it was fastened. 
The object of this process of expansion and contrac- 
tion is to give the animal a firmer hold on the soil, 
and to enable him, where this is thick, slimy, or sticky, 
to withdraw the foot easily on contraction. This 
purpose is necessarily defeated when the whole foot 
is armed with iron. 

No one has condemned the mischievous working of 
the existing system more strongly than Mr. Mayhew, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 113 

who refuses to allow that the body of the horse was 
made stronger than his legs and feet, and holds that 
these, if left to themselves, must be adequate to the 
tasks imposed on them. In his belief " it is amongst 
the foremost physiological truths that Nature is a strict 
economist, ,, and that " man has for ages labored to 

disarrange parts thus admirably adjusted No 

injury, no wrong, no cruelty can be conceived which 
barbarity has not inflicted on the most generous of 
man's many willing slaves. " But although he has 
thus seen " the folly of contending against those or- 
ganizations which govern the universe," he still 
thought that the employment of some sort of shoe 
might not lie open to this charge. Shoes of some 
sort may give to the horse the freedom which is es- 
sential for the health of the foot, although he insists 
that all the shoes thus far used are lamentable failures. 
" There are," he says, u many more pieces of iron 
curved, hollowed, raised, and indented than I have 
cared to enumerate. All, however, have failed to re- 
store health to the hoof. Some by enforcing a change 
of position may for a time appear to mitigate the 
evil ; but none can in the long* run cure the disorder 
under which the hoof evidently suffers." Such lan- 
guage, it might be thought, could come only from 
one who had discarded the use of shoes altogether. 
All, however, that Mr. Mayhew has done is to point 
the w T ay to the road which he was not prepared to 
take. But the experience of Miles and Mayhew, La 
Fosse, Charlier, and Douglas seems to lead by neces- 
sary logical inference to one conclusion only. If the 



114 



HORSES ; 



working of the traditionary system leaves the horse a 
wreck almost before he has reached his prime, if the 
lessening of the weight of iron and of the number of 
nails used in fixing the iron has been followed by 
direct and important benefits in every instance, if 
even those who hold that a horse must be shod have 
discovered that that which they look on as a protec- 
tion to the fore feet is merely harmful to the hind 
feet, is it possible to stifle the suspicion that this in- 
significant remnant of a system so fruitful in mischief 
may have no magic power, and, in short, that the 
horse may do just as well without them ? 

This conclusion has been courageously avowed and 
most ably enforced by a writer calling himself " Free 
Lance " in his recently published work on " Horses 
and Roads "; and to say the least, it is time that the 
whole question should be fully and impartially con- 
sidered. It affects the wealth of the nation, and on it 
depend both the usefulness and the comfort of a race 
of noble animals which are indispensable to our pros- 
perity. The force of prejudice may be great, and a 
widespread traditional system may not be soon or easily 
overthrown ; but it can not for a moment be supposed 
that Englishmen generally will assume with reference 
to it an attitude of unreasoning and obstinate antago- 
nism. Fear probably will be found to supply a restrain- 
ing motive more powerful than open ill-will. Many 
who think that the new theory may look well enough 
on paper will doubt its value in practice, and will re- 
gard their own horses as exceptions to which it can 
not apply. With a strange ignorance of fact, they 



THEIR FEED AXD THEIR FEET. 115 

will insist that unshod horses may move safely over 
smooth and soft ground, but must fail when it is 
rugged, and hard, and stony, or will be oppressed by 
a vague dread that a horse which has gone well enough 
without shoes for six months may break down in the 
seventh. But even those who refuse to give up the 
practice of shoeing will yet acknowledge its faulti- 
ness, and wish that they could give it up without 
risk. To all such we need only say that if they have 
any regard for impartiality they are bound to consider 
the arguments and the facts on which the conclusions 
of " Free Lance" rest; and most assuredly they will 
find in his pages nothing which they may charge with 
extravagance, rashness, and intolerance. They will 
not be told that unless they abandon the system of 
shoeing altogether they can effect no improvement 
in the present state of things, or even that they must 
hasten to change the old system for the new. On 
the contrary, they will find that they are again and 
again warned against imprudent haste, and are told 
that a vast amount of good may be achieved even if 
they never venture on leaving their horses' feet in a 
state of nature. 

Of these arguments and facts it might be difficult 
to determine which are the most important and sig- 
nificant. Certain it is that our horses generally are 
afflicted with a multitude of diseases which seize on 
their legs and feet, and that lameness is everywhere 
a cause of constant complaint and of loss of time 
and money. The author is not speaking from theory 
or from book, but takes his stand on an experience 



U6 HORSES: 

obtained during a sojourn, of many years in foreign 
countries, especially in America, where in the con- 
struction of railways and other public works he had 
to employ hundreds of horses and mules on tasks 
which taxed their capabilities to the utmost. In 
Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and elsewhere he found that 
unshod horses were daily worked over roads of all 
kinds, carrying heavy packs from the interior down 
to the coast, the journey thither and back being often 
extended to several hundreds of miles, and that they 
accomplished these journeys without ever wearing 
out their hoofs ; and the roads in these countries, 
where they exist at all, are neither softer nor smoother 
than those of England or of Ireland. If horses fell 
lame it was from causes incidental to the climate, and 
for these the system of shoeing would supply no 
remedy. From other diseases, which from strong and 
often incontestable reasons may be traced to the 
use of shoes, they were wholly free. The necessary 
conclusion was that the system of shoeing could 
answer no good purpose, while it might be productive 
of much harm ; and in this conclusion he was con- 
firmed by the admissions and protests of the most 
able and competent veterinary surgeons in this coun- 
try. These have uniformly raised their voices against 
the heavy weighting of the horse's foot maintained 
by the traditional practice. It has been found here 
that the hoofs of some horses are so weak that they 
can not be fully shod ; and a writer in the Field, 
styling himself " Impecuniosus," cited some ten years 
ago a remark by May hew that " some horses will go 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. u; 

sound in tips that can not endure any further pro- 
tection/' adding the significant comment that the 
moral of this is " that it is the shoe, not the road, that 
hurts the horse "; for if a weak and tender foot can 
go sound when all but unshod, u why should not the 
strong sound one do the same ? " The conclusion, as 
he insists, should rather be that a horse must have a 
strong, sound foot to stand not our work, but our shoe. 
The same writer, speaking of the cruelties unwittingly 
perpetrated by grooms and blacksmiths on the horse's 
foot, says that " though lameness usually attends 
their efforts, they ascribe it to every cause but the 
right one, and indeed resign themselves complacently 
to the presence of many diseases confessedly caused 
by their treatment. " " Free Lance " has seen, and 
others also have doubtless seen, light horses, of high 
breed and value, shod or burdened with a full set of 
shoes in which eight nails, nearly three-sixteenths of 
an inch in thickness, were driven four in each quarter, 
and in a space of three inches for each four nails. 
He may well call attention to the immense amount 
of laceration and compression which the delicate 
hollow fibers of the crust must have suffered when 
thus wedged up within a fourth of their natural 
dimensions. Besides this, he adds, the hoof was, in 
one instance, carved out on the crust to receive three 
clips, one on the toe and one on each quarter. " A 
calk, three-quarters of an inch high, was put on one 
heel of each hind shoe, and on the other heel a screw 
cog of equal height. On each front shoe a cog, also 
three-quarters of an inch high, was put upon each 



118 HORSES; 

heel. This wretched victim to fashion was then re- 
garded with the utmost satisfaction by the farriers 
and his groom ; and all this heathenism was perpe- 
trated in the forge of a veterinary surgeon. But, per- 
haps, he was shoeing to order." 

Amongst the reformers of these great abuses M. 
Charlier occupies a prominent place. His shoe in its 
first shape was not successful. Starting rightly on 
the assumption that nature intended the horse to 
walk barefoot, and that the bottom of his foot was in 
every way fitted to stand all wear and tear, he ex- 
cepted from these self-sufficing parts the outer rim, 
that is, the wall or crust. " He, therefore," " Free 
Lance " tell us, " made a shoe of very narrow iron, 
less than the width of the wall, which he let in, or 
imbedded, to the crust, without touching the sole 
even on the edge, so that, in fact, the horse stood no 
higher after he was shod than he stood when bare- 
footed. He urged that such a narrow piece of iron 
would not interfere with the natural expansion and 
contraction of the foot ; and in this he at once went 
wrong, for malleable iron has no spring in it. Then, 
in spite of his theory, as he expressed it, he carried 
his shoe right round the foot into the bars, beyond 
where the crust ceases to be independent of them. 
He then got a very narrow, weak shoe, about a foot 
in circumference (if circumference can be applied to 
that which is not a complete circle) ; and, as he ought 
to have foreseen, the shoe then twisted or broke on 
violent exertion." Still, as freeing the horse from a 
large amount of the weight usually attached to his foot, 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. ng 

the change was an important benefit ; and the lesson 
thus taught was not thrown away. The shoe was 
reduced by a man at Melton from the full to the 
three-quarter size, and in this form it weighs five 
ounces. Seeley's patent horseshoe, adopted by the 
North Metropolitan Tramways Company, weighs 
one pound and a quarter, this being a reduction of 
one-half on the weight of the ordinary shoe ; and we 
have to remember that each additional ounce on the 
horse's foot makes a most sensible difference in the 
amount of work performed by him during the day. 
Shoeing their horses on the principle of the modified 
Charlier shoe, Messrs. Smither & Son, of Upper East 
Smithfield, have found the result marvelously to 
their advantage in the measure of comfort and safety 
. with which their animals do their work, whether in 
the London streets, on pavement, or on country 
roads. So far as their experience' has gone, there are 
no horses which it does not suit, and it is of special 
service for young horses running on the London 
stones, and for horses with tender feet or corns, and 
to prevent slipping. In other words, the absence of 
metal confers benefits which can not be bestowed by 
its presence. Facts in America teach the same lesson. 
At a meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Agricult- 
ure in 1878, Mr. Bowditch, a practical farmer, de- 
clared that " nine hundred and ninety-nine thou- 
sandths of all the trouble in horses' feet come from 
shoeing," that he was in the habit of driving very 
hard down hill, that he had galloped on ice on a 
horse whose feet had merely a small bit of iron four 



120 HORSES: 

inches long curled round the toe, and that this piece 
of iron is all that is needed even in the case of an 
animal whose feet have been abused for a series of 
years. When nothing is left but this fragment of 
the traditional shoe, and when even this fragment 
has, as in Massachusetts and elsewhere, been retained 
for the fore feet only, it is incredible that men should 
fail to ask what the use of this relic of the old sys- 
tem may be. Donkeys in Ireland are unshod, and 
they work on roads at least as rough, hard, slimy, and 
slippery as those of England. " Can one really be- 
lieve," asks " Fr,ee Lance," " that the animal which is 
endowed with the greater speed and power should 
have worse feet than his inferior in both respects?" 
To such a question one answer only can be given ; 
and the lesson may be learned by any one who will 
take the trouble to go to the wilds of Exmoor or 
Dartmoor. There, as in the Orkneys and on the 
Welsh hills and in many parts of the continent of 
Europe, horses run unshod over rocks, through 
ravines, and up or down precipitous ridges. " Yet all 
this," Mr. Douglas remarks, " is done without diffi- 
culty, and to the evident advantage of their hoofs, 
for these animals never suffer from contracted feet, or 
from corns, sand-cracks, etc., until they become civil- 
ized and have been shod." Mr. Douglas, it is true, 
holds that civilization involves the need of a shoe of 
some sort for horses as for men ; Mr. Mayhew advo- 
cates the use of the tip, and, as we have said, it is 
not in human nature to stop short at such a point as 
this. It is obvious that if the complete abandon- 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 12 1 

ment of iron is followed by increased efficiency and 
power of endurance on the part of the horse, as well 
as from a number of painful and highly injurious 
diseases, the owner is directly and largely benefited in 
more ways than one. His horses live in greater com- 
fort, and for a longer time ; his veterinary surgeon's 
bill and the outlay for medicine are greatly lessened, 
and the costs of farriery disappear altogether. 

Farriers will of course complain that their occu- 
pation is gone, and that they are ruined men ; but 
little heed was paid to like pleas when they were 
urged for the drivers and attendants of coaches and 
coach horses when the first railways were constructed. 
Matters will adjust themselves in this case as they 
did in the other. But that the change can not be 
effected in a day or a week, no one will venture to 
deny. The feet of horses are ordinarily treated, not 
wantonly, but through ignorance, with a cruelty which 
is simply shocking. With vast numbers of animals 
which are not kept for purposes of drudgery and in 
whose appearance their owners feel a pride, the hoof is 
a mere wreck, and the sight of the mangled and split 
hoof may well excite not merely pity, but wonder 
that any can passively allow such evils to go on. A 
few, however, will always be found with resolution 
enough to shake off the fetters of traditionalism ; 
and some of these have already expressed their 
opinion with sufficient emphasis. One of these, 
writing in November, 1878, says : 

" The argument against horseshoes seemed to me 
so strong, and the convenience of doing without 
6 



122 HORSES: 

them so great, that I resolved to try the experiment. 
Accordingly, when my pony's shoes were worn out, I 
had them removed, and gave him a month's rest at 
grass, with an occasional drive of a mile or two on 
the high-road while his hoofs were hardening. The 
result at first seemed doubtful. The hoof was a thin 
shell, and kept chipping away, until it had worn down 
below the holes of the nails by which the shoes had 
been fastened. After this the hoof grew thick and 
hard, quite unlike what it had been before. I now 
put the pony to full work, and he stands it well. 
He is more sure-footed, his tread is almost noiseless, 
and his hoofs know no danger from the rough hands 
of the farrier, and the change altogether has been a 
clear gain, without anything to set off against it. 
The pony was between four and five years old, and 
had been regularly shod up to the present year. He 
now goes better without shoes than he ever did with 
them;' 

A well-known Cumberland farmer, writing about 
the same time, speaks of a farm horse in his posses- 
sion, which, having been lamed by a nail driven into 
its foot, had been for many months in the hands of 
the farrier. Tired out with this annoyance, the owner 
had his shoes taken off and turned him out to pasture. 
While still rather lame, the horse was set to work on 
the land ; and he is now, we are told, " doing all sorts 
of farm work, and dragging his load as well as any 
shod horse even over hard pavement." If judgment 
based on knowledge is to carry weight, the question 
would soon be settled. We have already seen the 



THEIR FEED AXD THEIR FEET. 123 

opinions expressed by the most able writers on the 
horse, and especially on the structure and treatment 
of his feet, as well as by the best veterinary surgeons. 
The verdict of the Lancet is almost more emphatic. 
" As a matter of physiological fitness/' it says, 
" nothing more indefensible than the use of shoes can 
be imagined. Not only is the mode of attaching 
them by nails injurious to the hoof, it is the probable, 
if not evident, cause of many affections of the foot 
and leg, which impair the usefulness and must affect 
the comfort of the animal. " If we add that the 
hunter is benefited almost more than other horses by 
being allowed to use his feet as nature made them, 
the admission is made in the interests of the horse 
and not as an expression of opinion on the contro- 
versy respecting the right or the wrong of fox-hunt- 
ing. It is enough to say that for horses which have 
to move rapidly, and to come down with a sudden 
shock on sticky and slippery ground, the natural 
course of the process of expansion and contraction is 
of the first importance. For those who may care 
nothing for the gratification of hunting men, it may 
be amusing or provoking to learn that in times of 
hard frost hunters have been enabled to chase the 
prey by the aid of gutta-percha soles fastened to the 
feet ; but all who are anxious only for the welfare of 
the horse will see in this fact strong evidence of the 
uselessness of the iron shoe. The plain truth is that 
differences in the quality of soil, be it hard or soft, 
stony or sandy, smooth and slippery, are of com- 
paratively little importance to the horse whose feet 



124 HORSES: 

are as nature made them. In the words of " Free 
Lance/' " the unshod horse can successfully deal with 
all roads "; and assuredly no one will dream of 
asserting that shod horses can do this, for on the 
setting in of frost, for instance, they can not be 
worked until certain ceremonies have been gone 
through at the blacksmith's forge. The unshod horse 
can tread firmly on the slime of wood pavement 
when shod horses are slipping and struggling in agony 
around them ; he can gallop on ice, and trot for miles 
together on the hardest and roughest flint roads, with 
far more ease and comfort than horses whose feet are 
shod with iron, or even with gutta-percha. " Free 
Lance " rightly remarks that " if they could not, there 
would be an end of the thing, for evidently the horse 
should be able to go anywhere and everywhere, and 
at a moment's notice." It seems hard to produce 
the conviction that the natural sole of the horse's 
foot is almost impenetrable, that it is so hard and 
strong as to protect the sensible sole from all harm, 
and that all feet exposed to hard objects are made 
harder by the contact, provided only that the sole is 
never pared. This adequacy of the horse's foot to 
all demands that may be made upon it is forcibly 
illustrated by Mr. Bracy Clark, who, like Mr. Douglas 
and Mr. Mayhew, contented himself with striving to 
produce a perfect shoe, although he acknowledged 
that if we wish to appreciate the full beauty of its 
structure, "we must dismiss from our views the 
miserable, coerced, shod foot entirely and consider 
the animal in a pure state of nature using his foot 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



125 



without any defense." Probably Mr. Clark thought 
that, though we may consider it in its natural state, 
few can ever so behold it, as all horses in civilized 
countries are in greater or less degree brought under 
artificial conditions. The plea is fallacious. The 
horse is clearly intended by nature to serve as a 
domesticated animal ; and so long as we do not in- 
terfere with the proper functions of any part of its 
body (and the abomination of bearing reins and 
other such practices interfere with them grievously 
and even fatally), we bring it under no conditions 
which it was not designedly calculated to encounter. 
Private owners and companies whose horses must be 
numbered by troops are naturally irritated by the 
accidents constantly occurring on smooth and slimy 
pavements or on rough and hard stone or flint roads, 
and in their disgust they now offered rewards for the 
invention of a shoe which shall render the horse in- 
different to the materials over which he has to pass, 
and have clamored for a uniform system of pavements 
in all towns. It seems strange indeed that no mis- 
giving seems to cross their minds that they are taking 
thought of the wrong surface, and that they are 
scared by false terrors when they dread the contact 
of the unshod hoof with sand, granite, flint, wood, or 
asphalt. 

It can not, indeed, be too often repeated or too 
strongly insisted on, that the foot of the horse in no 
way needs to rest on soft and yielding surfaces. 
The very opposite of this is the truth, and this 
truth was perceived as clearly by Xenophon as by the 



126 HORSES: 

ablest physiologists of our own day. Speaking, as he 
says, not from theory, but from wide and varied ex- 
perience, Xenophon insists that in order to ensure 
the healthiness of horses, stable floors must not be 
smooth or damp ; that they should be lined with 
stones of irregular shapes, of much the same size as 
the animal's hoof, and that the ground outside the 
stable, on which it is groomed, should be covered in 
parts with loose stones laid down in large quantities, 
but surrounded by an iron rim to prevent their being 
scattered. Standing on these the horse, Xenophon 
adds, will be in much the same condition as if he 
were traveling on a stony road, and as he must move 
his hoof when he is being rubbed down as much as 
when he is walking, the stones thus spread about will 
strengthen the frogs of his feet. It is not easy to 
repress a certain feeling of shame at the disingenu- 
ousness of modern writers who have tried to shirk 
the difficulty by saying that Xenophon had no knowl- 
edge of our hard roads. It is enough to reply that 
he speaks distinctly of roads covered with stones, 
and of the benefit which the horse derives from 
traversing them. There is not a word to justify a 
suspicion that he would have shrunk from the hardest 
roadway of modern times. Xenophon is thus in com- 
plete agreement with Lord Pembroke's remark that 
the constant use of litter in a stable makes the feet 
tender and causes swelled legs. In his judgment the 
bare stone pavement will cool, harden, and improve a 
horse's feet merely by his standing on it. Acting on 
the same principle, Vegetius, as " Free Lance " re- 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 



127 



marks, holds that the floor of a stable should be made, 
not of soft wood, but of solid hard oak, which will 
make the foot of the horse as hard as a rock. It 
should surely be unnecessary to say that these writers 
make not the remotest reference or allusion to the 
shoeing of horses. It was impossible that they could 
notice a practice which was unknown to the ancient 
world, and which is in truth simply a modern, as it 
is also a most uncalled for, barbarism. No iron helped 
to produce the heavy sound of solid horn which Virgil 
ascribes to' the fiery steed of Pollux. Of late years 
we have heard much of the unjustifiable waste of 
time spent on classical literature which has no practi- 
cal bearing on the interests of modern life. It is un- 
fortunate that Xenophon's treatise on the manage- 
ment of horses has not formed one of the subjects for 
the upper forms of our public schools ; and it would 
be well if they were made to read with care a book 
written by one who wrote unfettered by the restraints 
of any traditional system, and who successfully 
brought the cavalry as well as the infantry of the Syrian 
army of Greeks from the plains of Babylon to the shores 
of the Euxine. There they would see how thoroughly 
the rules laid down by the leader of the Ten Thou- 
sand for the selection and the management of horses 
are in accordance with the highest scientific knowl- 
edge of the present day, and how happy an ignorance 
he displays of the long and dismal catalogue of 
diseases and miseries which & wrong-headed and 
ridiculous system has called into existence. No 
horses could be subjected to a more severe strain in 



128 HORSES: 

every limb of their body than were those which 
Xenophon led from Cunaxa over the Armenian high- 
lands to the walls of Trebizond ; yet we hear nothing 
of any special difficulties arising from diseases of the 
foot or leg. It may probably be said with truth that 
the strain endured by those horses could be borne 
only by unshod animals. Paul Louis Courier, the 
French translator of Xenophon's treatise, was so 
struck by the apparent soundness of his method, that 
he put it to the test by riding unshod horses in the 
Calabrian campaign of 1807, and he did so with com- 
plete success. But that which with him was a volun- 
tary experiment has been for others an involuntary 
necessity. This was the case with many of our 
cavalry horses during the Indian Mutiny, and their 
riders have declared that they were never better 
mounted in their lives. In the retreat of the French 
from Moscow the horses, " Free Lance " remarks, 
lost all their shoes before they reached the Vistula ; 
yet they found their way to France over hard, rough, 
and frozen ground. In his invasion of America, 
Cortes could not carry about with him the anvils, 
forges, and iron needed for shoeing even the small 
number of horses which he had with him. But these 
horses did their work and survived it, and from them 
comes the fierce mustang of Mexico, which still goes 
unshod. There is great force in the remark of " Free 
Lance " that horses are not indigenous to America, 
this being their first* introduction, and that climate 
and locality, therefore, have not that influence over 
the hoof which they are commonly supposed to have. 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 129 

The small horses of the irregular cavalry at the Cape, 
which took part in the battle of Ulundi, had no 
shoes on their hind feet, and few were shod even in 
front, but they held out longer and went miles farther 
than the shod animals : and no complaints were made of 
any of them falling lame, although, as " Free Lance " 
adds, " sheets of wet slippery rock and rolling stones 
in river beds would be calculated to try the hoofs to 
the utmost. " 

But it is scarcely necessary to cite more instances 
of the vast benefits which those who have had the 
courage to leave the feet of their horses as nature 
made them have received under the most varied con- 
ditions of work, of soil, and of climate. Humanity 
and self-interest here point in the same direction, and 
only folly of the most perverse kind will have the 
hardihood to fight for the maintenance of the existing 
system. The cruelties practiced (whether unwittingly 
or wantonly) on the horse's foot have been extended 
over a series of generations, but the only penalty 
which remains to be paid for the ill-doing of years is the 
surrender of a few days or a few weeks of the labor of 
the animal which has been thus misused. On the other 
side, there is a certainty that we shall be entering on 
a course which will triple the length of time over 
which the efficiency of the horse will be extended, 
and which therefore will, within twenty years, have 
saved the nation a hundred and thirty-five millions 
sterling. It will further ensure the immediate saving 
of all the money now spent on farriery, and this 
saving, which must be at the least forty shilings a year 
6* 



130 



HORSES: 



on every horse, will amount to two millions and a quar- 
ter ; and there will be the further saving in straw as 
well as on medicines, nostrums, and remedies no 
longer needed for animals rescued from a system 
which was a fruitful source of discomfort, disease, and 
death. The angry controversies which the subject 
is now constantly calling forth and exasperating will 
at the same time disappear. There will no longer be 
an outcry for uniformity in the system of paving 
towns, for horses will go as well on one kind of pave- 
ment as on another. There will no longer be queru- 
lous demands on inventors for the devising of a 
perfect shoe, because it will be clearly seen that this 
perfect shoe has been furnished already by nature, and 
that it is only human ignorance and conceit which has 
marred the work of God. We may now look back 
with some feeling of envious regret on the wiser, be- 
cause more natural methods of the ancient world ; 
and future generations will look back with feelings of 
simple wonderment at the infatuation which could 
submit without a struggle to a system which doomed 
the horse to unnecessary disease and agony and to a 
premature death, while it deprived his owner of 
wealth often sorely needed for his own welfare and 
that of all depending on him. Of the ultimate issue 
there can be no doubt ; but it is still the duty of 
" Free Lance," as of all whose eyes are opened to 
the mischief of the existing system, to fight the battle 
to the end. 



THEIR FEED AXD THEIR FEET. 



AGAINST HORSESHOEING. 



131 



The New York Tribune says: " Colonel M. C. 
Weld's noteworthy views on the abuse of shoeing 
horses, as lately expressed in the Tribune, have at- 
tracted deserved attention abroad as well as at home, 
and called out another striking statement of favorable 
English experience, the points of which we quote 
from The Mark Lane Express : 

" l About three years ago, I was led to give the 
non-shoeing system a fair trial, commencing with a 
pony constantly driven, and extending the experi- 
ment to the young farm horses, all of which had, 
however, unfortunately been shod before the trial be- 
gan, and am now able to endorse the observations of 
Colonel M. C. Weld in almost every particular, except 
as regards traveling on paved surfaces, as in South- 
ampton, where there is a tramway, it is found that the 
pony prefers the paved stoneway to the macadamized 
part on either side. The time that elapsed before 
the " dead horn " of the hoof grew out was six 
months, and it was fully eighteen before the insensi- 
ble frog lost its callousness and grew soft, like strong 
india-rubber. The pony does not work on the farm, 
but goes out nearly every day, the greatest number 
of miles run in any one week being eighty and in any 
one day thirty-two. 

" ' Before the shoes were removed it was somewhat 
of a " daisy cutter," had been down once or tw T ice, 
and stumbled much going down hill ; since discarding 
shoes it has never stimbled once, and I have driven 



1 32 HORSES. 

it full trot down a hill covered with snow and ice. 
This pony had been shod up to seven years old. The 
farm horses are young and strong, and have been 
bred on the place, and though mostly employed in 
the fields, are frequently engaged in hauling corn, 
timber, bricks, or manure, 'for home or hire purposes. 
No roads than those around Winchester can be more 
trying, repaired (!) as they are with flints, which have 
been broken just enough to make them cut like razors, 
and are a cruelty to horses shod or unshod. I find 
no difference in the capability of drawing full loads. 
There is no stamping in the stable or when standing 
out ; over asphalt or icy pavements there is no slip- 
ping ; the feet do not ball up over snow. 

" ' The great drawback is that against which all who 
try any new groove have to contend, namely, the un- 
yielding prejudice of all classes, more especially those 
who have to look after the horses, who, rather than 
aid in any change, will throw every obstacle in the 
way ; but to my brother farmers I say emphatically, 
the man who cuts the frog of or shoes his young 
horse is committing a great error. With a little care 
at first you may work them on roads or fields ; the 
animals will be certainly happier and probably health- 
ier, and yourselves be in pocket by the change, and, 
with an occasional rasp the appearance of your 
horses will be far better than the torn, jagged, heavily- 
ironel and nailed feet of one-half the wretched 
animals it is painful to see about the country/ ' 



SOUND VIEWS ABOUT HORSESHOEING. 
BY COL. M. C. WELD. 

Messrs. Fowler & Wells: 

Gentlemen : — I thank you for showing me the 
essay by Sir George Cox, which I have never seen 
entire before, and also the article clipped from the 
Mark Lane Express (London), which so pleasantly en- 
dorses my views upon the subject of driving horses 
barefoot. I do not know that I can add anything of 
special value to what you already have and propose 
to publish, but offer the following 

NOTES FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE. 

It is now about fifteen years since I began to reason 
about horseshoeing. Like other people, I suppose I 
thought shoes a necessity, of course. Of course ! That 
is the natural rut we get into, — thinking : " Every- 
body can not be mistaken/' The blacksmith was my 
oracle. He is the oracle of everybody who owns 
horses and does not have notions of his own. He 
cut as he pleased, and burned as he pleased, and shod 
as he pleased. The horses had thrush, and corns, 
and contracted heels — of course. Everybody's horses 
are liable to such troubles — they caulked themselves, 
overreached, interfered but rarely, and then reshoeing 

(i33) 



134 



HORSES: 



remedied the matter. It was all right and to be ex- 
pected — of course, and perhaps necessary (?). 

I began to read and found little to the point, but 
stopped the paring of the frog absolutely. Then I 
became acquainted in a business way with Mr. Good- 
enough, the inventor of the form of shoe which bears 
his name. We reasoned together, and /learned some- 
thing. I began to use Goodenough's shoes put on 
cold, and found it difficult to get smiths to put them 
on well. This led me to the conclusion that I could 
drive a nail as well as a blacksmith's apprentice ; so I 
soon became the possessor of a " draw knife," a rasp, 
a pair of pincers, and a good horseshoeing hammer. 
These, with the tools about the barn and house and a 
few sets of Goodenough shoes, were my stock in 
trade, and with my man's help I shod my horses for 
a full year. On one horse a single set of steel winter 
shoes wore, with only two resettings, from January 
to August, nearly eight months. They wore very 
evenly and thin, and finally one broke in two, and I 
pulled them all off. The hoofs were trimmed, and 
though unshod for a while, did not break much. 
After about two weeks we thought the fore feet 
showed a little tenderness, and they were shod. The 
hind feet wore well, and were in splendid shape. The 
other horse had his hind shoes removed, and this 
cured the thrush which was in them, and before 
winter he had a new pair of frogs — sound and large. 

After this experience, every spring for some years 
I pulled off the shoes all round, kept the feet trimmed, 
and let them wear into good shape, and as soon as 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 135 

they were well worn down, say in three or four weeks, 
had the front feet shod, and I learned to have the 
old shoes reset if they would hold the nails, and to 
have this done as seldom as possible. This does not 
mean that the shoe was left on till it came off of its 
own accord, but so long as the horse seemed to stand 
and travel well, the shoes were not set back. 

I had four colts, and about this time began to train 
and drive them. Those that were old enough were 
used daily on the road, never being driven more than 
eight to ten miles in one day, and rarely that. A 
friend dropped the remark, " If your colts have good 
feet you will not need to shoe them until they are 
five years old/' I was already beginning to regret 
the necessity of having them shod, for after I had 
folind out that I could do my own horseshoeing, I 
was glad to have the smith do it — if he would do it 
my way ; and he was glad to put on even Goodenough 
shoes. 

I did not have the colts shod, and found out that it 
takes a deal of use, even in soft wet weather when the 
hoofs are easily worn, to wear them down so that the 
feet are tender. 

I began also to let the old horses go barefoot. 
They were used chiefly on the farm (as we had the 
colts for driving), and before long, say within three 
months, their feet were in beautiful condition — round, 
solid, with big frogs and broad heels, and besides, the 
fresh growth of horn around the coronet was so 
healthy, smooth, and uniform that it was a pleasure 
to see it. 



136 HORSES: 

The following winter was quite open for this lati- 
tude, and we used four horses, on the farm, in the 
wood lot, and on the road, all unshod throughout the 
season. Horses fairly on their feet (that is, with tough 
hoofs, not weakened by nails, and the influence of 
shoes) will travel without flinching in the least over 
the hardest and roughest frozen ground or broken 
stones, provided they are a little used to it. A bare- 
foot horse will not " ball " in soft snow and he will 
stand up on smooth ice. So as the horses went 
through the winter so well, and neither spring nor 
summer made me change my mind about the princi- 
ple involved, I approached the next winter with con- 
fidence that I could drive the horses barefoot that 
season too. I was too sanguine ; the ground froze 
early, the roads wore down as smooth as a barn floor ; 
there came a storm in January of mixed snow and rain 
followed by extreme cold, and the whole land was a 
sheet of ice. I thought about how Mr. Bowditch 
had galloped on the ice with only a " toe-clip, " and 
started out boldly. My horse did not fall, but he 
was in mortal fear of falling and I was proportionately 
uncomfortable. I tried the matter well and gave it 
up, had the horses shod and they went free again, ex- 
cept when a soft snow fell upon the ice ; then with snow 
two or three inches thick packed in balls below their 
feet they were worse off than if barefooted. 

I am entirely satisfied that it is best to use shoes 
in icy weather, and in fact in winter weather generally. 
The disadvantage is that the hoof walls are hurt by 
the nails — but then I have the nails driven very close 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 137 

to the edge of the horn, which is surprisingly tough. 
The growth of new horn is not checked or essentially 
affected, because we have so much snow and our 
country roads are so rough that there is frog-pressure 
enough to secure a good growth of horn. When we 
pull the shoes off in March or April a single paring 
removes most of the split and damaged horn, provided 
the nails are driven close enough to the edge. 

An unshod horse in winter will not pull half a load 
even on reasonably rough roads. He may go well 
for miles, but may then come upon an icy spot that 
he can hardly get over. On smooth icy roads an 
unshod horse, though much better off than one with 
smooth shoes, can not travel with the freedom and 
confidence in his footing that is essential to the com- 
fort and safety of the driver, and especially so to the 
rider. 

Of late we have had more horses than we needed, 
owing to our repugnance — in fact, determination not 
to sell a faithful old family servant when too old for 
much work ; so we have seldom worn any of our 
horses' feet off on the road to that extent that they 
went tender. It has occurred in two or three in- 
stances, however, and it is always likely to occur to 
whoever drives his horses barefoot. The remedy is 
simple: put on "toe-clips," " half-moon shoes," or 
what Sir George quotes Mr. Bowditch as calling 
" merely a small bit of iron, four inches long, curled 
around the toe." This is chiefly necessary for the 
fore feet of driving horses ; but horses that pull 
heavy loads need this device on the hind feet also. 



1 38 HORSES. 

The toe-clips should be made to take well hold of 
the ground and should be thinned down at the ends. 

If a horse should come home from a journey sore, 
and with his feet perhaps worn to the quick and 
bleeding, give him a week's rest before shoeing — 
turning him out when the grass is wet with dew, or 
give him the run of a swampy piece of ground. 
This will do his feet more good than any other treat- 
ment, and then put on toe-clips. 

Since driving barefoot I have never had a " sand 
crack/' a broken or split hoof, " quarter-crack " or 
anything of the kind and no trouble of the feet 
whatever, except when worn down as explained. 
Even the old horse, 24 years old, has feet as round 
and sound as an unshod colt. 

Thanking you for this opportunity to aid in pro- 
mulgating sound views about horseshoeing, 
Truly yours, 

MASON C. WELD. 

New York, August, 1883. 



THE TRAINING AND CHARACTER OF 
HORSES. 

The following from a recent number of that useful 
and practical publication, The Phrenological Journal, 
will be found of interest, and suggestive in the selec- 
tion and management of horses: 

" Of our domestic animals none occupy more atten- 
tion than the horse, and altogether there is no subject 
with which general society is supposed to be more 




Fig. i.— Highest Type of Intelligence. 

familiar, yet when it is a question of positive knowl- 
edge for a given purpose very few are able to meet 
the case — even among farmers and stock raisers we 
would scarcely find two who would agree entirely on 
the training or education of a horse having a certain 
trait or disposition. On the farm the treatment of 
this most useful companion of man is for the most 
part irregular, injudicious, and very often absolutely 



140 



HORSES: 



cruel ; and the wonder is that the colt develops into 
a condition of docility, patience, and usefulness, which 
is rather typical than otherwise of the horse generally. 
With his highly organized brain, sensitive tempera- 
ment, great strength, capabilities of resistance, the 
horse by appropriate training could be rendered much 
more efficient than he averages. This is shown by 
occasionally meeting with a noble specimen of the 
equine family which has fallen into considerate hands, 
and the capabilities of intelligence in such a case are 
astonishing, and the sarcastic remark which L often 
heard, * That horse knows more than his master/ 
seems warranted. The deficiencies in horse-training 
generally arise from a lack of understanding of the 
nature of the animal, and without such an understand- 
ing it is impossible to set on foot a system which shall 
be definite and efficient. Mr. Dennis Magner, whose 
reputation as a horse-trainer is very extensive in this 
country, states that ' There are three natural difficul- 
ties which present themselves in the outset of a horse's 
education. First, the horse is much stronger than 
man, and this fact the animal is intelligent enough to 
perceive very promptly ; and if he can impose it to 
improper treatment he is likely to do it and thus re- 
sist the control of his master, and whatever gain there 
is on his part in such resistance, encourages him to 
further impatience of control, and finally he may be- 
come unmanageable and vicious. 

" ' The second difficulty arises from his methods of 
reasoning, which must be intelligently exercised so as 
to prevent his becoming excited or frightened at boys 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



141 



and sounds with which he is brought in contact. 
Through his active senses of sight, hearing, and feel- 
ing he must be instructed with regard to their inno- 
cent character. 

" ' Third, it must be appreciated that a horse can 
not understand the meaning of language or words of 
command, except so far as he is taught to associate 
them with actions ; consequently, it is not to be ex- 




Fig. 2. — Vicious and Treacherous. 

pected that he will know what he is required to do 
unless taught and shown in a way that he can clearly 
comprehend. We see, for example/ says Mr. Magner, 
1 that if a horse learn to pull away, break his halter, 
resist the blacksmith in shoeing, or run away, he will 
be encouraged to do so afterward, and the habit may 
become fixed. On the other hand, when a colt is first 
haltered, no matter how hard he may resist, if com- 
pelled at length to submit, he will be likely not only 



1 42 HORSES: 

to follow without restraint, but will continue to do so 
afterward ; also when the feet are taken up and handled 
until an operation is quietly submitted to, or such re- 
straint is brought upon the mouth as will overcome 
the power of resistance, he will not only submit for the 
time, but if the teaching be applied properly, inclina- 
tion to resist afterward will be quite overcome.' 

" The principle of this reasoning applies as well to 
other habits of the horse. Like all other animals of 
the herbivorous kind, he is naturally subject to the 
domination of man, and so susceptible to training; 
this subjection is illustrated in every type of horse, it 
does not matter how wild or vicious he may be, if his 
treatment be such. as properly considers organization ; 
in other words, is founded upon a thorough under- 
standing of the horse nature. Having become once im- 
pressed by the superior power of his master through the 
element of fear, his fear overcome and supplemented 
by kind treatment he will not only exhibit submission 
without the use of force or restraint, but he will re- 
main so if not abused or excited. The horse is ever 
subject to disturbance by the occurrence of unusual 
sounds, especially those which arise from something 
in contact with his body, and in this case a noise, 
especially if suddenly made, is likely to excite intense 
fear or resistance, and he will be likely to be afraid of 
it ever afterward. A new object should be brought 
slowly and gently to a horse's notice ; he should be 
permitted to smell and feel of it, then it can soon be 
placed on or around him without causing the least 
fear. It does not matter whether while in harness the 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



H3 



cross-piece falls across the quarters, or an umbrella is 
raised behind or the whistle of a steam engine is heard, 
if the horse have been shown or introduced carefully 
to these things, he will not be seriously disturbed by 
them ; whereas their sudden occurrence may be pro- 
ductive of most dangerous and persistent effects. 

" Third, in relation to teaching the meaning of the 
sounds or words of command, using the language of 
Mr. Magner, ' it is evident that if a man were to sit on 




Fig. 3. — Willful and Spirited. 

a block and simply read the word zvhoa ; to a horse, 
he might do it indefinitely without teaching him its 
meaning ; but if a horse were moved, set in moderate 
action, and immediately after the command the reins 
were pulled sufficiently hard to make him stop, he 
would after a few repetitions of the command learn to 
stop, and that without the reins being pulled. Or in 
teaching to back, if after the command were given the 
reins were pulled upon sufficiently to force him back- 
ward, he would after a few repetitions learn to back 



144 



HORSES: 



freely of his own accord at the word, to avoid the un- 
pleasant effect of the pulling/ 

" In further illustration of this principle, Mr. Magner 
goes on to say how a horse may be taught a few tricks. 
If it is desired to teach a horse to make a bow, for 
instance, first prick him lightly on the back with a pin, 
and repeat this until in his efforts to avoid the annoy- 




Fig. 4. — Docile, Kind, and Intelligent. 

ance he drops his head, then instantly stop the prick- 
ing and caress him ; repeat the pricking until he has 
again dropped his head, then caress him and give him 
something of which he is fond ; continue this method 
until at the instant the motion is made toward the 
back he will drop his head. To teach him to kick up, 
simply prick him on the rump until there is an incli- 
nation to kick up, when, as before, stop and caress him ; 
so repeat until the least motion toward the rump leads 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET 



H5 



to the effect desired. Teaching any kind of trick the 
principle is the same, the difference being only that 
instead of a pin other means suitable to the case must 
be used. To teach tricks by the word would be nec- 
essary to repeat the command and associate the act 
with it. Care should always be taken against confus- 
ing or exciting the animal, and but one trick at a time 
should be impressed upon him, the process being Care- 




Fig. 5. — Excitable and Obstinate. 

fully and slowly repeated until no mistake is made. 
Of course, as horses differ much in intelligence, some 
will acquire their lessons more promptly than others, 
and more can be expected in the way of performance 
from some, to have prompt obedience at the word of 
command. Such an animal as the one in the illustra- 
tions (Fig. 1 or Fig. 4) can be readily taught to do un- 
usual things. For the execution of any trick or move- 
ment the exact signal or word which it is customary 



146 HORSES: 

to give in teaching it should always be repeated ; the 
tone or pitch of the voice should be carefully regarded, 
otherwise the horse may mistake on the instant what 
is wanted of him, and consequently be unable to obey. 
Such an animal as that in Fig. 3 or Fig. 7 would test 
the patience of any trainer ; bad habits, cunning, and 
vicious action are to be expected from such a physi- 
ognomy. But the defects of organization in such ani- 
mals are usually increased by bad treatment. 

" The principle of kindness in training is potent in 
relation to a horse just as it is in relation to our influ- 
ence upon our human brothers. If a man, for instance, 
were strong enough to take a bully by the shoulders 
and shake him so thoroughly as to show him that he 
had power to control him as he pleased, and then 
afterward treat him with kindness, the effect would 
be far better in establishing a relation of friendship 
and subservience on the part of the bully, than if the 
latter were merely impressed that he was kept under, 
or subjected by dint of the superior force of the other ; 
in truth, it is not likely that the rough fellow would 
maintain a very pleasant feeling for his superior, if the 
contest were carried on in the presence of others, so 
that his self-respect were affected, his low jealousy 
aroused. If a man could control a horse by putting 
his arms around his body, and thus prevent his strug- 
gling and becoming excited, and until the muscles 
were entirely relaxed, and then further win his confi- 
dence by kindness, caressing and so on, the subjuga- 
tion obtained would be of the most efficient kind ; but 
as there is not strength enough in human nature to 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



U7 



do this, recourse must be had to such means as will 
approach as near in principle to it as possible. If the 
horse be given such freedom as to encourage his con- 
fidence in resisting, or if his willful, vicious nature be 
stimulated by ignorant, abusive treatment, and he 
should in his excitement and fury resist earnestly, de- 
spite of the most severe punishment, it is no more 




Fig. 6.— Slow, Dull, Obtuse. 

than should be expected, and at the same time we 
would have a manifestation of the real cause to be 
overcome by our treatment. The manifestation pro- 
ceeds from a condition of the brain just as mental 
phenomena in man arise, and this condition has been 
produced by erroneous treatment ; and to secure the 
desired result of submission a method must be put in 
operation for the production of a different mental 



148 HOUSES: 

state ; the fear of the animal must be checked and 
modified, and his confidence and good-nature gained. 
In the meantime strong physical means of control are 
legitimate as a temporary expedient, so as to secure 
that mental state which will lead to success. If he 
has been unduly stimulated by fear, then the horse 
should be shown that there is no cause for fear ; if 
through certain qualities of viciousness, then those 
qualities should be modified through measures which 
shall calm and soothe the brain excitement which pro- 
duces them. Kindness will accomplish much even 
with a stubborn, willful character like Fig. 3. We 
should always give a horse some credit for reason and 
allow him a little latitude as it were for reflection. 
Treating him much as a child whose disposition we 
understand, will have a similar effect. 

" The reader who is familiar with horses will recog- 
nize in the illustrations traits of * horse physiognomy 
frequently met with. Fig. 1 shows the type of intel- 
ligence, high blood and docility ; while Fig. 2 (from 
life) indicates the vicious and treacherous type, the 
animal against whom it is well to be wary. Fig. 3 is 
an animal that will tax the strength of his owner to 
keep in training. He is spirited, excitable, and ' off 
the handle ' often. Fig. 4 is a good fellow, docile, 
yet possessing spirit and intelligence — the horse for 
the family that will be kind to and appreciative of him. 
Fig. 5 requires a gentle, but strong hand. A ' high- 
strung/ nervous fellow is he — needing no whip or 
spur, but will ' go ' while he can stand. Fig. 5 is a 
very sensitive animal ; flies and mosquitos annov him 



THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 149 

greatly ; his skin is thin and his blood hot. In Fig. 6 
we have a specimen of the heavy, dull, stupid horse ; 
the one that ( any one can drive/ but is rarely driven 
off a walk, or a very sluggish infrequent ' lope/ He's 
the horse to try the patience of a saint, when a little 
behind time for the train. Fig. 7 requires an excep- 
tionally good driver to manage him ; he must be 
watched or some dangerous trick of his may suddenly 




Fig. 7. — Very Excitable and Incorrigible. 

astonish his owner. He'll nab the unwary bystander 
on the shoulder, or perhaps seem disposed to make a 
brief luncheon of his hat. He has a wild-looking eye, 
and the head-lock falls in an unsteady corkscrew way 
down over his forehead, in itself suggestive of un- 
trustworthiness. Compare Figs. 1 or 4 with Figs. 2, 
5, 6, and 7, and see how wide the differences of char- 
acter shown even by engravings. 



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